Fallout: A Journey Through The Wastes
by Yaridovich23
Summary: A novelization of the first game in the Fallout series, in which Jack Washington must exit the safety of his Vault and tackle the unforgiving Wasteland.
1. A Need For Water

_War. War never changes._

 _The Romans waged war to gather slaves and wealth. Spain built an empire from its lust for gold and territory. Hitler shaped a battered Germany into an economic superpower._

 _But war never changes._

 _In the 21st century, war was still waged over the resources that could be acquired. Only this time, the spoils of war were also its weapons: Petroleum and Uranium. For these resources, China would invade Alaska, the US would annex Canada, and the European Commonwealth would dissolve into quarreling, bickering nation-states, bent on controlling the last remaining resources on Earth._

 _In 2077, the storm of world war had come again. In two brief hours, most of the planet was reduced to cinders. And from the ashes of nuclear devastation, a new civilization would struggle to arise._

 _A few were able to reach the relative safety of the large underground Vaults. Vault Thirteen is but one of these immense vaults. Imprisoned safely behind the large Vault door, under a mountain of stone, a generation has lived without knowledge of the outside world._

 _Life in the Vault is about to change._

Jack Washington whistled to himself as the elevator silently rose through Vault 13. Jack was a moderately handsome individual, and stood at a good six feet. He had very short, brown hair like most others on the security force. Of course he had his hair like that, being the captain and all. He had a muscular build as well, though he wasn't too used to fighting. After all, the worst he usually had to deal with was a fellow Vault member having a bit too much to drink. He did tend to get a nasty bruise from breaking up brawls.

He wasn't in his uniform, though. He was in his regular jumpsuit: a plain blue piece of clothing with some yellow stripes and a big "13" on the back. He was called by Overseer Jacoren for something urgent. He was a kind, fair Overseer whom Jack had much respect for. The elevator arrived at the third floor and Jack stepped out. He walked quickly through the extremely clean, steel hallway toward the Overseer's office. He passed by a new security guard named Ben who nodded to him as he passed, which Jack returned with a small smile.

He arrived at a sliding steel door and pressed the button next to it, opening it for him. He walked into the Overseer's office, which had several complex computers, and of course the Overseer's chair which was seated on a metal pillar. Jacoren wasn't sitting in it as he usually was. He was standing in front of it, waiting for Jack. Jack stood in front of his boss. "You needed to see me, sir?"

Jacoren nodded. Jack could tell by his expression that whatever he was called for was not good at all. He was an older gentleman, the oldest in the Vault. Despite his age, he still seemed physically healthy and strong. He sighed and scratched his beard before speaking. "Ah, you're here, good. We've got a problem, a big one. The controller chip for our water purification system has given up the ghost. Can't make another one, and the process is too complicated for a work around system. Simply put, we're running out of drinking water. No water, no vault. This is crucial to our survival. And frankly, I..." He paused, not seeming to want to continue. "I think you're the only hope we have."

Jack frowned slightly. The water chip? Broken? When did that happen? He assumed recently, sometime that day. He would have been one of the first to know otherwise. And…he had to leave the Vault? No one ever left the Vault, it was unheard of! Jack thought for a moment before replying. "Is it safe to go out there, sir? Is there still radiation? Where would I even find another chip?"

His superior shook his head. "Our readings indicate while there are some pockets of mild radiation, it's nothing that should be lethal. When it comes to what sort of creatures are out there waiting for you, well…We just don't know. As for the chip, Vault 15 should have one. It's directly east of us, not too far away. We need you to do this, Jack. You're our only hope for survival."

Jack's frown deepened. Like any sane man, he wasn't exactly ready to go out into the unknown like that. But…he had no choice. It was his duty to protect the Vault at all costs. He gave a salute and nodded. "You can count on me, sir!" He wasn't even aware there was another Vault close by. He just hoped they had what he needed…

The Overseer gave a small smile and nodded back. "I knew I could count on you. Gather anything you need and head to the entrance. Phillip will be there to open the Vault door for you. Good luck, Jack. You'll need it." He said gravely. Jack nodded once more, and then headed out of the office.

After about thirty minutes of packing, Jack made his way to the entrance of the Vault. He had never actually been in this area of the Vault before. Few people had, really. He packed about twenty pounds worth of equipment for his journey. A knife, his 10mm Pistol, some ammo, some Stimpaks to heal himself if needed, two flares, some lock picks, a first aid kit, some Buffout, Mentats, and three flasks full of water. If that wasn't enough…hopefully they would let him back in for more supplies. The Overseer also sent someone to give him a Pip-Boy 2000 to put on his wrist. The map on it already showed where Vault 15 was in relation to their Vault. He eventually made it to the entrance room where Phillip, a young dark-skinned man, was waiting. He stood by a control panel near the large, thick metal door that led to the mysterious outside world. "The Overseer filled me in, Jack. You ready to go?" Jack simply nodded at him. "Alright, good. The Overseer said we have about a hundred and fifty days' worth of water, but Vault 15 isn't nearly that far away, so you should have plenty of time. Alright, here it goes…" He pressed a few buttons on the panel and a loud siren went off, there was a loud, almost unearthly grinding of metal as the door of the Vault slid out a bit and moved to the side. Jack couldn't see anything outside, just eerie blackness… "Good luck, Jack."

Jack nodded back at the younger man. "Thank you, Phillip. I won't let you all down, you'll see." With that, he slowly walked to the entrance and took his first step outside the Vault into the outside world…He looked around and noticed he was in a dark, cold cave. He just barely stepped outside when the sirens went off again and the Vault door screeched closed behind him. No turning back now. Jack immediately noticed something on the ground next to him. It…was a skeleton! He looked closer and saw it had a Vault jumpsuit on! How could that be? No one left the Vault! Unless…that was someone from another Vault? He noticed a small box of ammunition next to the bones, along with another knife. There was plenty of room in his backpack, so Jack quickly grabbed the items and put them in. Who knew what was out there? He needed everything he could get…

He took a deep breath and continued into the cave. He could hear slight scurrying sounds and slowly drew his knife. He couldn't see anything moving…not yet at least. He wasn't expecting things to be so…calm. To be fair, a lot of what he heard about the outside world was based on rumors from around the Vault. Some said there were giant animals, some said the radiation made corpses get up and walk again. He couldn't help but think of those things as he walked through the cave. He turned around the corner when suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his ankle. He let out a grunt of pain and looked down to see a furry creature had bitten his ankle. He saw one of those in a book once, they were called rats, he believed. That wasn't important though, what was important was that one was attacking him! He quickly kicked at a cave wall so the rat was rammed into it. There was a slight squishing sound and the rat let do and dropped dead on the ground.

He let out an annoyed noise and looked down at his ankle. It was bleeding a bit, but nothing serious. He sighed and kept walking, ignoring the slight pain with every other step. He soon saw another rat. He decided to take no chances and stomped on it. Again, there was a squishing noise and the rat died. He kept his knife drawn as he kept going. So much for giant animals, these rats seemed just as large as the books in the Vault described them. There was a bright light up ahead, and the cave was starting to get warmer. He realized that light was the sun. He squinted his eyes as the cave floor stopped and sand began. The sun hurt his eyes a bit, which was understandable since he never saw it before. He stayed by the cave entrance, feeling the natural warmth and letting his eyes get used to the sun. After what seemed like an eternity, he took another deep breath…and walked out into the wastes…

* * *

 **Author's Note: A short start, I know, but we're just getting started. The game is based off of my own playthrough of it, which will explain the specifics in caps and ammo counts in the future. The story will deviate a bit from canon, but things will remain essentially the same as the lore.**


	2. Shady Sands

Sand. Dust. Heat. These were the first thoughts that came into Jack's mind as he stepped out of the cave and into the Wasteland. He blinked a few times, his eyes still not fully used to this new light. He wasn't sure what exactly he expected out here, but it was a bit more than this. Sand. Dust. Heat. As far as he could see, the Wasteland around him was flat, covered in dust and sand with the occasional unidentifiable dead and shriveled plant coming out of one of the many cracks in the ground. There were no living creatures for miles around, not even so much as a bug. The heat was new to him as well; the worst heat Jack ever had to endure is when the AC in the Vault was on the fritz. He had only been out for maybe a minute and this awful, dry heat already tempted him to take a sip from his canteen, but he resisted. He couldn't waste any water; he had to only drink when he really needed to. He checked the Pip-Boy 2000's map screen. It already had Vault 15's location was already programmed into the device. From Vault 13, it was about a four-day walk. He looked behind him; the cave he just came out of was in the side of a small mountain. He started to walk around and noticed how the walls of the mountains were placed made the cave entrance visible only if he was standing right in front of it. He supposed that's why there are only rats and a skeleton of unknown origin in that cave. Who knows what other sort of creatures are out in the Wasteland?

He made his way to the other side of the mountain, keeping an eye open and his hand near his gun just in case, but he saw no creatures or anything hostile. It was…eerily quiet. He was used to always hearing some sort of sound in the Vault. There was always some machine making white noise in the background no matter where he went, or the chatter of fellow vault dwellers. There was always something. Now the only noise was the occasional gust of wind. It was a deafening silence. After a bit of time he made it to the other side of the mountain, facing east…till nothing to see except rocks and dust. Jack hoped he had enough water for the trip because he didn't expect to find any drinkable water on the way there. With a deep breath, Jack started to walk east to Vault 15…

Nothing. A lot of nothing. That's what Jack encountered on the first day of his trip. He walked…and walked…and walked until sundown, occasionally taking breaks, sitting on the ground as he sipped at one of his canteens and tried to find something interesting to look at in the wastes. He didn't have any problems until night fell. He had nowhere to sleep. For whatever reason, he didn't pack something to sleep on, not even a blanket. Jack sighed sat, then fell on his back onto the hard ground. He supposed he would just have to try his best to get some shut-eye. He woke up stiff the next morning, but he managed to at least get a few hours in. Jack kept on going after taking a few sips of his canteen. The entire trip was uneventful. Every so often, Jack would come across a small pond of disgusting green water that made his Geiger Counter click like crazy. He would also occasionally see odd, moving shapes in the distance. He could never quite make them out, and whenever he got to the spot he thought he saw them at, there was no one there. What were they? Mirages? Or was there someone…or something wandering the Wasteland with him?

After about four days of travel, sometime around noon, Jack saw a large shape in the distance. It looked like…a small town? He of course had seen these "town" things in books; he was just surprised to see one in the middle of nowhere. It was on the way to Vault 15, so Jack decided he should at least see what was there. If it was abandoned, there could be supplies of some sort, a blanket to at least help his now-aching back at night. It wasn't until nightfall that Jack arrived. The town was not like the ones in the books he read. There were walls around the whole thing, made of white stone with hole in front of him that lead inside to stone buildings. There were two people at the entrance of the town, a pretty white blonde woman in a dress and a rugged, yet kind looking white male holding a shotgun. He was a handsome fellow with a beard, the kind of face that wouldn't look out of place on a dollar bill. The two people quickly looked Jack over and the man spoke in a gruff voice. "Welcome to Shady Sands, stranger. While you're here, please keep any weapons holstered." He shifted his shotgun a bit, as if getting ready for Jack to refuse and open fire.

Of course, Jack wouldn't do that. "Uh…I didn't expect this town to be…well, inhabited." He didn't know why he said something like that; he just kind of blurted it out.

Instead of being mad, the man with the shotgun smiled just a bit. "I can't say I blame you, stranger. There aren't too many towns around the wastes aside from The Hub, Junktown, and our little community here. Oh, the name's Seth by the way. And this pretty young lady is Katrina." He nodded to the blonde woman, who smiled at Jack with a "Hello.".

Jack smiled back. "Pleased to meet you. Say, I was on my way to Vault 15 for a water purifier, there doesn't happen to be one around here, is there?"

Seth looked over at Katrina who shook her head. "Sorry, stranger. We don't have anything like that around here. We came from Vault 15 a few decades ago, actually. I'm not sure if one is there or not still. Sorry there's not much more we can do to help."

Damn. Well, it was worth a shot. Though now there's no guarantee that Vault 15 even has a water purification chip anymore. Maybe that's why they left, because there was no more fresh water…Well, he still had to go check. If there was nothing there…well, he'd have to figure out what to do next. He nodded and turned to the east. "Well, thank you for your time; I'm going to go check the Vault anyway, just to make sure."

Jack started to walk when Seth spoke up. "Whoa there, stranger. Just be careful of those Radscorpions, okay?"

This made Jack stop almost mid-stride and turn to the gun-bearing gentleman. "What on Earth is a Radscorpion?" Jack knew about scorpions, like rats he read about them in books in the Vault. He never heard of a Radscorpion, however.

Seth looked surprised. "You never heard of those before? You're pretty lucky then. They're huge scorpions, mutated by radiation, bigger than you or me easy. They've been harassing our town from a cave to the south for weeks now. No matter how many we kill, they just keep coming."

It took Jack a second to realize his mouth was hanging open before he closed it. It seemed those rumors about giant monsters outside the Vault had some truth in them after all. He thought before replying. Something inside him wanted to help. That was his nature, after all. He couldn't let this nice town be harassed by those creatures. But…could he even stop these monsters? "What if I were to try and stop them?"

Seth again looked surprised and rubbed his beard a second before replying. "You're welcome to try, though I expect you know by this point how dangerous that would be. I can escort you to the cave, but I won't go in. This town needs me."

Jack nodded and thought for a second. "Is there anyone who could help me out? I'm sure there's someone here good with a gun." He wasn't sure if he would be willing to do this alone. He was just one man, after all.

Seth took a turn to think, and then nodded. "Well, there's Ian. He's a tough customer and would probably be willing to help out. He's in that building right over there." Jack walked through the entrance of the town as Seth pointed to a stone building a few yards away.

Jack nodded in thanks and headed through the curtain inside. Inside there were several men chatting, they didn't show any interest in Jack. He did notice that half of them had dark skin, and spoke in a strange way he'd never heard before. There was one white man in a leather jacket and jeans by himself. He was strong looking, possibly as buff as Jack himself. He was fiddling with a 10mm pistol. Jack went up to the man. "You must be Ian, right?"

The guy looked up at Jack. He had long, unkempt brown hair and a harsh face. It was covered in dirt and had some cuts in it. He looked Jack up and down suspiciously. "Who wants to know?" He looked ready to shoot Jack, as if expecting to be attacked at any moment. Odd how that seemed to be a common theme among people with guns.

Jack held up his hands in a small attempt to show he meant no harm. "I'm just someone passing through, and I heard of your Radscorpion problem and volunteered to help. Seth said you might be willing to help me get rid of them?"

Ian nodded and put his gun away, standing up. He again looked Jack over. He was an inch or two taller than the Vault Dweller. "Sure, I don't see why not. There's nothing else to do here anyway, let's get going."

Without waiting for a response, Ian walked out of the building, with Jack quickly following him to the entrance of Shady Sands. Seth smiled at the two. "Well, glad to hear you two are gonna work to together on this. I'll lead you to the cave, it's about a day's trip south of here." With that, he walked out of the town and headed south, with Ian and Jack following.

The trip was very quiet. It was an awkward silence. Ian remained silent, looking around a lot as if looking for danger as he walked behind Jack and Seth. Seth did the same, while Jack was in the middle of the two men. After a few hours they slept on the ground, and then continued the uneventful trip in the morning. It wasn't until midnight the next day that they arrived at a cave entrance on the side of a small mountain. It was eerie and there was a putrid smell coming out of it. As they went up to the entrance, Jack swore he heard the sound of creatures scuttling around in the darkness. "Well, here you are! I have to head back to town now. Good luck on the extermination!" And with that, Seth turned north and headed back to Shady Sands.

Without a word, Ian went inside the cave, and Jack quickly followed. As they went deeper into the cave, the awful smell grew stronger, and the noises grew louder. He and Ian pulled out their guns, waiting for something to jump out at them. Jack was nervous. He didn't even remember why he agreed to help out. He had a feeling he wouldn't come out of this alive. They quickly reached a section of the cave where it branched off in three directions. After a few seconds, Ian pointed down the left path. "I'll go down this way. You take the right path. We'll meet up here once we clear out any Radscorpions in our areas. Got it?"

Jack nodded. He thought the whole idea of doing this was to fight together, not split up. Ian seemed experience, and he probably fought Radscorpions before while Jack had yet to see one so he probably knew what he was doing. Jack hoped he did at least. "Okay, got it. Good luck." Ian nodded in response and went down his path while Jack went right, gun ready to shoot. The scuttling noises became louder and louder until Jack came to a wider area of the cave and saw his first Radscorpion.

It was bigger than Jack, just like Seth said. A huge, brown scorpion whose erect tail made it much taller than Jack was, and those pinchers were big enough to cut him clean in half if he got stuck between them. It scurried through the area, making odd clicking noises as it scuttled. Jack took a quiet, but deep breath and readied his gun. After what seemed like an eternity, Jack aimed at the creature's eyes and fired. PING! The bullet missed its mark and instead hit the top of the creature's head, marking its carapace but not doing much else. The Radscorpion made a squealing noise and charged at Jack, brandishing its huge pincers. Jack panicked and started to fire wildly at the creature, backing up quickly. Two shots missed while one hit its left pincer, not seeming to do much damage. One hit the creature's tail, causing to make that disturbing noise again and sprint at Jack, too fast for him to get away from backing up. It tried to sting him with its huge tail, but Jack luckily jumped to the side in time to dodge it. He fired more shots at the creature's face, managing to hit one of its eyes, making it squeal loudly as it charged. The Radscorpion managed to cut at Jack's arm, as it came too fast for him to dodge. Luckily, it wasn't too serious, but it hurt like Hell, causing Jack to scream out. He quickly got to his feet and fired at the beast's tail, using up the last bit of ammo in the gun. He managed to hit the tail in the same spot over and over until half of it came clean off, falling to the ground with a thud. The Radscorpion charged once more, but Jack jumped on its back. It tried to shake him off, but its body wasn't really made for bucking, so it found it impossible. Jack took out one of his knives and stabbed at the creature's face, avoiding getting sliced by its pincers until the creature went limp on the ground, dead. "Whoa. Holy shit." Jack muttered to himself. He can't believe he took down something like that. He got off the creature and looked at its fallen tail. These things were probably poisonous. Maybe he could find some use for its tail? He picked it up and…wow! It was pretty heavy! It had to be at least twenty pounds! He managed to curl it up and fit it in his backpack, careful not to touch the stinger. He looked around the room the Radscorpion resided in. There were no other Radscorpions of course, they would have come to the aid of the one he just killed. There were, however, a lot of eggs in the corner. Jack went over and stomped on each and every one. As he turned to meet Ian, he noticed a box of 10mm ammo on the ground…the only remains of some poor soul who wandered in here most likely. He took out the bullets and reloaded his gun as he walked back the area with the branching paths.

Surprisingly, Ian was already there, sitting on a rock and fiddling with a knife. He stood up as Jack approached and put the knife away. "Well, good to see you made it out in one piece. How many Radscorpions did you kill?"

Jack glanced down the last path before answering. He could hear more Radscorpions that way. Damn. "Uh…There was only one there. That, and a lot of eggs which I crushed."

Ian frowned and shook his head. "Man, that really sucks. There were three down that path. You got the boring part."

Boring? He thought only having to have to fight one of those things was boring? This guy must be nuts. "Well uh…Good for you, I guess? I guess we should head down the last path and see how many more we have to deal with, huh?" Ian nodded and the two headed down the last path.

Ten minutes later, it was over. All the Radscorpions were gone. There were only another three, and Ian took down two easily while Jack struggled with a third, slightly larger one. They smashed all the eggs they found and started to leave the cave. It was still the middle of the night as they left. "The people of Shady Sands are sure gonna be happy to hear about this. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be." Ian said. Jack wouldn't really agree with that last part, but said nothing about it as the two left the cave and made their way back to Shady Sands.

It wasn't until an hour after they departed were any words spoken, with Jack breaking the silence. "So…Ian. What's your story exactly?"

Ian took a minute or so before answering. "I was a guard for the Crimson Caravan down in The Hub. While we were making a run to Shady Sands, we got ambushed by a large group of Raiders. My group and I fought hard…but we were all killed aside from me. I barely made it to Shady Sands alive, where the locals managed to fend off the Raiders and patched me up. I've been living there ever since, working on repaying my debt to them."

Jack…wasn't expecting that. Though he would never say it out loud, Ian kind of looked like a thug to him. He guessed he shouldn't form an opinion based off of people out here just because they look nasty. "I see. So, what exactly is this Hub place anyway?"

Ian stopped and looked at Jack. "You don't know about The Hub? Just where are you from anyway?"

Jack stopped too. "To be honest, I'm new to the Wasteland. I've only been out here for five days. You see, I'm from a Vault, Vault 13 and our water purification chip is broken. So, they sent me out to look for one in Vault 15, and I just happened to come across Shady Sands in my travels."

Ian looked Jack up and down. He was wearing a Vault Suit, but it was always possible he just came across it somewhere. Ian looked like he didn't believe a word Jack just said, but he nodded. "Well…okay then." He started walking again and Jack walked beside him. "Either way, you're pretty bad with a gun. How about I show you some pointers on the way back?"

It was night of the next day before the two made it back to town. Ian showed Jack how to more properly use a gun on their way. He was hoping he wouldn't need these skills, but better safe than sorry. Seth and Katrina greeted the two with wide grins as they entered the town. "I take it since you're back in one piece that you stopped those damn Radscorpions?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, it wasn't too bad thanks to Ian here, you won't have to worry about those nasty creatures anymore."

A look of relief came across the two, Katrina even gave a small laugh and spoke to the two. "Well that's good to hear. You two should get some rest, we'll see about patching any wounds you have. Our town's leader, Aradesh, will want to speak to you in the morning."

And so Jack and Ian got patched up, a kindly doctor wrapping up Jack's arm, and the two got a well-deserved rest. In the morning, Jack was pointed to a large building near the south wall by Seth to go to talk to Aradesh. Ian was still sleeping, and according to Seth it was a bad idea to wake him up. Jack entered the building and saw a man with dark skin and a brown robe. He was an elderly gentleman with a kind face and eyes. Jack assumed this was Aradesh, because as soon as he saw Jack he let out a laugh and approached him. "Hello, my friend! Seth and Katrina told me the good news!" Like some of those men Jack came across earlier, he had a strange way of speaking. "It seems Ian is still sleeping, hmm?" He didn't say it in a mean way, but as if he was joking with an old friend. "We cannot thank you enough for what you have done for us. Please, stay as long as you like, and take as much water as you can carry from our well. I just wish there was more we could give you."

Jack couldn't help but smile. "It was really no problem. Though there actually is something you might be able to help me with. You see, I'm from a Vault west of here, and Katrina told me you came from Vault 15. We are in desperate need of a water purification chip; do you happen to know if there was maybe one when you left?"

Aradesh's expression turned a bit sour. He looked Jack over with suspicion in his eyes. After doing this for a few seconds he replied in a more serious tone. "I will choose to believe you…for now, traveler. I do not know for certain if our old Vault has the chip you claim to seek. You must search it yourself if you want to be certain. You should talk to Seth on your way out and…" Aradesh stopped and looked at Jack's bag. Part of the Radscorpion tail was poking out. Aradesh's smile suddenly returned. "Oh my goodness, you have the tail of one of those demons! Please, take it to Razlo, he knows a great deal about the Radscorpions! He lives in the building straight outside the doorway."

Jack nodded. "Uh, alright, sure. Thank you for your help, sir." Jack then left the building and headed to Razlo's building and went inside. There was an elderly man with brown hair with a few streaks of silver in it. He was reading a book when Jack came in and looked up at him.

"Ah, yes, what can I help you with?" Jack opened his bag and pulled out the Radscorpion tail. Before he could say anything, the man took the tail with a look of amazement. "My goodness, you actually have a Radscorpion tail! Please, you must let me have it for an antidote! It should only wait an hour."

Jack again nodded. "Sure thing, glad I could help with that." And so Razlo started to work on the antidote while Jack flipped through one of the books from the shelf. It was about medicine, not a strong point of his, but it was just to pass the time.

After an hour, Razlo presented Jack with a red glass container. "Here! I've managed to make quite a bit of the antidote. Please, take this, free of charge! It's the least I could do!" A pained moan came from the back. "Ah, I almost forgot about Jarvis. He got stung by one of those nasty creatures. Thank you again for your help, stranger!" With that, Razlo went to the back to attend to the sick man.

Jack exited the building and headed toward the building he and Ian slept in. He didn't even make it when he noticed Ian was talking to Seth and Katrina at the entrance area, so he went up to them. "Well, it's time for me to go now. I can't waste any time getting to Vault 15. Thanks for letting me stay the night."

Seth nodded with a smile. "It's no problem, it was the least we could do after you helped us. Before you go though, I think you should take this." Seth took out a rope from his backpack. "Vault 15 could be in bad shape at this point. You might need this to get to the lower levels."

Jack was about to take the rope when a thought came to him. He might as well trade something away for something that could potentially make or break his quest. He took out one of his knives. "Okay, but you should take this instead. It's not much, but it's the best thing I have next to my gun."

Seth chuckled as they exchanged items. He then reached into his pocket and gave Jack…bottle caps? Twenty-two of them to be exact. "You should at least take some caps, a good knife like that is hard to come by."

Jack stared at the bottle caps in his hand and slowly pocketed them. He assumed these must be the currency out here? "Uh, thanks Seth. I guess I should be on my way then."

He was about to walk out when Ian stopped him. "Wait, I want to come with you. Now that I helped with the Radscorpions, I feel like I've repaid my debt to Shady Sands. And now that they're gone, there's not too much to do around here in the way of action. What do you say?"

Jack smiled and nodded immediately, someone like Ian would be extremely helpful, especially if Vault 15 didn't have what he was looking for. Ian seemed like someone who might know of some place that just might have the purification chip. "I'd be glad to have you. Just one more thing I have to do." Jack almost forgot about the water Aradesh promised him. He quickly went to the well and refilled all his canteens; he was almost out of water by that point, and then headed to the entrance. "Okay, ready. Let's go!" The two said their goodbyes to Katrina and Seth, and went eastward to Vault 15.


	3. Junk Vaults and Junk Towns

Jack and Ian walked in silence across the Wasteland, it was as hot and dusty and boring as always, and soon enough Shady Sands was but a speck on the horizon, with nothing else to see in any other direction. Jack and Ian decided to not talk too much, they had to conserve their strength for the trip, every ounce of it counted out there. Luckily, the two didn't run into anything on their journey, though they did sometimes see large, humanoid figures in the distance or hear something unknown out in the distance, but the figures were always gone before long, and the source of these unearthly noises never showed themselves thankfully. After two days, they see something in a distance, a small, broken-down shack. Ian spoke up, not seeming happy. "Wait, what is this? Wasn't there supposed to be some Vault here or something?"

Jack frowned and checked his Pip-Boy, looked up at the shack, then back at the Pip-Boy. "Yeah, my Pip-Boy says this is the right location, maybe there's a second entrance inside that shack?" What if this was a mistake? What if his map was wrong and he'd have to go back to Vault 13, telling Jacoren that he couldn't even find the Vault where their last hope was. Ian grunted in response and the two kept going until they arrived at the shack, at this point it was night. Jack entered the shack, gun drawn, and saw a manhole. He lifted it up and there was a ladder leading underground. "I think there's a cave or something down here," he said, shining his Pip-Boy's flashlight down the hole, "Maybe the Vault is down here." With that, he climbed down the ladder.

Ian followed suit, careful not to slip up in the dark. "I hope so; it would suck if those two days of walking were all for nothing." The two soon found themselves in the cave, the sounds of rats scurrying around filled the air. The two used the Pip-Boy light to guide them through the darkness, occasionally having to stomp on rats as they tried to attack their ankles. After a few minutes, they came across a sight familiar to Jack, a large, gear-shaped piece of metal on the floor, and a few feet away, a hole in the cavern in the shape of a gear leading to a metal hallway. Ian whistled. "Well damn, I guess you were right! There really is a Vault here. First time I've actually seen one."

Jack looked worried, looking at the door that was on the ground, there were scorch marks and a piece was missing entirely. "I want to know what did this to the door, these things were made to survive nuclear war, how did this door manage to come off?"

Ian shrugged, drawing his pistol. "I dunno, but we should be careful, there may be bigger creatures inside this Vault." As soon as he said that, loud footsteps came toward the two, along with a loud screech as a large hairy creature emerged from the Vault, fangs ready to bite and red, bloodshot eyes glaring at Ian as it charged at him. He let out a noise of surprise and shot at the beast, managing to hit it in the head before it reached him, killing it. It was rather large, if it stood up on its hind legs, it would've been about the size of the two men.

Jack had no time to react as this happen, only enough to draw his knife in a panic, but calmed down when the creature was slain. "What the Hell _is_ that thing?!" He prodded it with his foot, a disgusting odor coming from the corpse. "Some sort of large rat?"

Ian reloaded his gun and nodded. "Yeah, we call them Mole Rats, nasty fuckers. Let's hope this is the last one we find here." With that, the two walked into the Vault, as they went in deeper, they noticed the lights were still working, if rather faint, but it was enough where the Pip-Boy's flashlight wasn't needed anymore. They turned left at a crossroad, shooing away or killing rats that got near them, and found an elevator shaft, and only that. There elevator was gone and the cable was snapped. "Well shit, what do we do now? There's no way I'm taking a leap of faith."

Jack scratched his head for a second before snapping his fingers. "Oh, yeah! I got some rope at Shady Sands, maybe it will be long enough."

Ian shrugged and stepped aside to let Jack work. "It's worth a shot, go on ahead." Jack nodded and got the rope out and tied it to a sturdy chunk of metal, and throwing the rest down the shaft. He tugged on the rope a few times to make sure it was secure, then started his climb down.

"Wait here until I say it's alright, Ian!" Jack called up and Ian nodded in response. After about a minute, Jack called back up again. "Alright, it's fine! Come on down!" Jack looked around, there were more rats scurrying around, and larger pink ones as well, they looked almost like pigs mixed with rats. He stood there with his gun drawn, in case anything came, but nothing did. After about a minute, Ian came down behind him. "It doesn't seem like any of those Mole Rat things are down here. If there's a Water Chip in this Vault, it'll be one more floor down."

"Alright. Though, we should look around this floor first. There might be some good loot, you can never have enough." Ian said, looking around the hallway. "I'll search in this first room here, and you go search elsewhere."

Jack saw the wisdom in this and nodded. "Alright, sounds like a plan." He went down the hall, gun drawn in case of trouble as Ian went into the room he said he'd look in. Jack went into the first room he came across, which had a locker in it. He opened it up and found another rope and a leather jacket and some leather pants. "Huh…This looks like it could be helpful. Better armor than this Vault Suit at least." He slipped on the leather jacket and pants, they luckily managed to fit him perfectly, what are the odds? He then left the room and saw another elevator shaft…missing the elevator. "Ah, damn it!"

Ian came around the corner. "What's going on?" Jack simply gestured to the shaft and Ian sighed. "Damn it, not again. And we don't have any more rope."

"Actually, I found some in a locker in the other room." Jack said, taking the rope out and tying it to a piece of metal like with the previous shaft. "And some armor, pretty lucky, huh?"

Ian nodded as Jack finished tying the knot and started his descent. "Yeah, it is. You sure could use better armor." He smiled dryly as Jack gave a sarcastic laugh from below him, and Ian himself started his descent as well. When Ian got down, Jack was nowhere to be seen. "Uh…Jack? Where did you go?" He called out. He was answered by a yell around the corner, and Ian quickly rounded it, gun drawn, to see Jack staring at a large pile of rocks blocking off a doorway. "Jack? What happened? What's wrong?"

Jack didn't reply for a few seconds. He let out a sigh and shook his head before turning back to Ian. "If there was a Water Chip in this Vault, it'd be down this hall. There's no way we'd be able to move all these rocks."

Ian sighed too. "Well, shit. All this way for nothing. Though…There is one thing we could do."

Jack turned to Ian. "Yeah? What?"

"Well, we could always try these two towns, Junktown and The Hub. They're known for trading, especially The Hub, they might have a Water Chip for us." He shrugged. "It's no guarantee, but we don't have much choice, do we?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, it's worth a shot. You really wanna come with me though? I already dragged you two days out of the way for nothing."

Ian shrugged again. "I have nothing better to do, might as well help you out with this. Before we leave though, we should split up again and search for any supplied."

Jack agreed and the two scavenged the floor. Jack found fifteen .233 FMJ bullets, he didn't have any guns that'd use it, but maybe he'd find one at some point. He also found twenty-four 10mm bullets, and an SMG. Ian found some ammo for his gun, and both of them found some food and some old and warm, yet drinkable water. With that, the duo made their way out to Vault 15, and, following Ian's direction, made their way to Junktown. The trip was uneventful, they occasionally shot the shit, but mostly stayed quiet.

After eight days, they arrived at a wall of metal with a gateway being guarded by a man with a large gun. He nodded at Jack and Ian. "Welcome to Junktown, strangers! Keep your weapons holstered at all times, unless you need them for self-defense. Other than that, just generally behave yourself and we'll be just fine."

Jack and Ian nodded and entered through the gate, passing by another man with a gun, who also had a mustache and a scar across his face. "Okay Ian, you know where the store is?" Jack asked as the two walked further into the town.

"Yeah, I've been here a few times. It's not far." Ian said, leading Jack north. They passed by some more guards, carefully watching the newcomers, and passing by shambling citizens, who sometimes didn't even glance at the two. They soon reached a medium-sized building with a sign saying "Darkwaters General Store" on the front. "Here we are. If there's a Water Chip anywhere here in Junktown, it will be here."

"Let's hope so…" Jack muttered as the two entered the building. They were the only customers in the store at the moment, though there were two guards and a man with dirty blond hair and dog tags around his neck.

The man gave a small nod and smiled. "Howdy strangers, the name's Killian Darkwater. What can I help you with?"

Jack stepped forward, eyeing the shelves. There only seemed to be weapons and food there, but he supposed he had to at least try. "Yeah, you have any Water Chips here?"

Killian scowled at Jack and shook his head. "A Water Chip? What is this, some sort of joke? Gonna pretend you're from a Vault or something?"

Jack was surprised at that. Was there something wrong with claiming to be from a Vault? He quickly thought up of a plan, and gave off a small laugh. "Sorry, sorry. It was just a joke. My bad."

Killian calmed down a bit and gave off a dry laugh. "Yeah, very funny. Now, is there anything you really need?" He stood behind the table and started showing off his wares to the duo. In the end, Jack traded his two flares, his two Mentants and two Buffouts for three Stimpaks, a Desert Eagle .44 gun, twenty .44 Magnum JHP bullets, and one hundred and nine Bottle Caps. Ian bought some bullets for his gun and some Stimpaks with his money, along with some food. "Pleasure doing business with you." Killian said when the transaction was done.

Jack and Ian collected their respective loot and made their way out the store, but saw there was a dark-skinned male with a Hunting Rifle in his hands. "Gizmo sends his regards!" He shouted as he fired at Killian, who luckily ducked under the table, avoiding serious damage but getting grazed in the shoulder.

The guards and Jack readied their weapons, but before they could do anything, a gunshot sounded through the shop and the dark-skinned male dropped to the ground, a bullet-hole right between his eyes, with Ian having made the shot, giving a tsk and putting the gun away. "Geez, what was THAT about? You okay, Killian?" He called back. Jack and the guards were surprised at Ian's fast reflexes, but seemed relieved and put their weapons away.

Killian stood up, checking his wound to make sure it wasn't too serious. He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." He walked over to Jack and Ian, sneering at the dead man before looking back up at the duo. "Listen. Thanks for saving my life. It's a mighty brave thing to do. Looks like we got ourselves a situation here. I know Gizmo's behind this, but I need proof. You interested in helping?"

"Who exactly is Gizmo? What does he have against you?" Jack asked. He thought a town would be a safe place, even in this Wasteland, guess he was wrong.

"Gizmo is a greedy bastard that owns a casino to the north. You see, I act as mayor as this town, and with me out of the way, Gizmo would get his grubby hands on my position, so he needs me gone. I need your help though, he knows every face in this town, so I can't send anyone else."

Jack thought about this for a moment. Well, he was on a schedule, but this guy needed their help. It was probably the inner security guard, but he felt obligated to lend a helping hand. "I'm up for the task, how about you, Ian?"

Ian nodded. "Yeah, there's no way I'm gonna let someone get away with something like this. What exactly do we need to do, Killian?"

Killian nodded and went behind his desk and fished two small items out of a box, a circular device and a rectangular device. "I have here a tape recorder and a bug. You have to either plant the bug on Gizmo or in his office, or record some sort of confession for this hit, then we can move in on him. I won't lie to you fellas, it'll be dangerous."

Jack took the two objects, placing them in his front pockets. "Don't worry, we'll be able to handle this. We'll get the job done before sundown." He promised. He and Ian turned to leave, and Jack eyed the Hunting Rifle by the dead would-be assassin. "Say, do you mind if we take this?"

Killian shook his head. "Sure, go ahead, it was your friend there that took him out. And there will be another reward waiting for you if you get the job done."

Ian eyed the Hunting Rifle and shook his head. "You take it Jack, I never liked those big guns, I prefer pistols."

"Well, alright. If you're sure." Truth is, Jack has never held a Hunting Rifle before, he'd only ever seen them in books as there weren't any in Vault 13. Still, it wouldn't hurt to have it, he could still carry more weight. He took the Hunting Rifle off the corpse and strapped it to his back. "Alright, let's get going." The two stepped over the body and headed north. Almost as soon as they were out of earshot, Jack turned to Ian. "Say Ian, why do you think Killian acted that way when I asked about the Water Chip?"

Ian rubbed his neck. "Well, there are a lot of people that haven't ever seen a Vault, as, from what I've seen so far, they're so well hidden. Because of that, there are a great deal of people who don't believe they even exist. So I guess he thought you were pulling his leg or something."

Jack pondered that for a moment, then shrugged. "I suppose that makes sense. It's just a shame he didn't have one."

"Well, after this business with Gizmo, we can try The Hub. If any place in this Wasteland has a Water Chip, it'd be-"

A sudden shout and a dog's bark interrupted Ian. "That damn dog! Get away from my house!" A male's voice yelled.

Jack and Ian looked ahead and saw a man and a woman, facing a dog, specifically an Australian cattle dog. He was growling, seeming to not want the two near the house. "Whoah, what's going on here?" Jack asked, approaching the two.

The man, red in the face, turned toward the duo. "This dog just showed up outside my house, and won't let us in! Go on, get!" He shouted the last sentence at the dog, which didn't budge.

Jack turned to the dog, which suddenly stopped growling and approached him slowly, sniffing the air. Jack stayed still, as the dog seemed to have gone docile. When he got close enough, he sniffed the leather jacket Jack was wearing, then gave a happy bark and wagged his tail while looking up at Jack. "I think he likes me. You wanna come with us, boy?" He asked, the dog barked again and wagged his tail harder. "I guess that's a yes. I'll call him…Dogmeat. What do you think, Ian?"

Ian gave a dry chuckle. "I think it'd be great if you could do that to Radscorpions."

"Haha, very funny." Jack said, turning to the man. "Well, I guess that takes care of your dog problem."

The man looked confused, yet satisfied. "Yeah, I guess so. Uh, thank you stranger." With that, him and the woman went into the house.

Jack looked around and saw a spinning flashing sign that said "Gizmo's" on it. "Well, I guess we found the casino, let's-" Another man screaming interrupted Jack, coming from a building next to the casino, a bar by the looks of it. "Oh, jeez. We better see what the deal is with that."

"It's probably just a bar fight, no big deal." Ian commented.

Dogmeat, however, thought different and growled toward the direction of the bar. "I dunno, Dogmeat thinks something is going down. Let's just pop in and see what's what."

Jack and Dogmeat made their way to the bar while Ian side. "I can't believe my opinion matters less than a dog's."

Ian quickly caught up with them, just as Jack was opening the door. Inside was indeed a bar, and a man with a shaved head and armor was yelling at a woman. "You stupid bitch! You spilled my drink!" With a grunt he slapped her across the face, knocking her to the floor.

The bartender, a balding, unfit man, yelled out to the rude individual. "HEY! You don't hit our waitresses, you bastard!" Without hesitation, he took out a 10mm pistol from behind the bar and shot the rude man in the head, killing him instantly.

"Holy shit!" Jack called out. "Ian, did you see that? He just shot that guy!"

"That's how are things out here, Jack. People kill other people as punishment." He said with a shrug. "That's how it's always been.

Jack just shook his head as another man with a shaved head approached the three. "Hey, you guys new around here?" As he talked, Jack noticed his teeth were filed sharp, and he seemed to do a bad job with it.

"Uh, yeah. Why? Who are you?" Jack asked.

"We're the ones that tear newbies like you apart! Get these fools, guys!" As the man shouted this, a woman and another man with a shaved head got out of their chairs. The woman got out a knife and ran at Jack, only for Dogmeat to let out a snarl and pounce on her, savagely biting the arm with the knife while Ian and Jack drew their guns, Jack getting out his Desert Eagle. The two men shot at the duo, missing Ian and hitting Jack's side, though it was luckily a grazing blow. Jack groaned in pain and shot at the man with filed teeth, hitting him in the leg, and then the neck, causing him to fall to the ground, gargling for a few seconds before dying. Dogmeat, meanwhile had already torn out the throat of the woman, while the last guy kept shooting, but missing.

Suddenly, a loud bang rang out through the bar and the last thug fell dead, a large hole in his torso. The source was a tall man in a dusty leather armor with a trench coat and gas mask. He was holding a shotgun, which he bumped to expel the used rounds. "Looks like you boys got yourself into some trouble with the Skulz. You both alright?"

Jack and Ian nodded while Dogmeat licks his lips to get some of the dripping blood off. "Yeah, we're fine. I got winged a little, but I'll be okay." Jack. "Thanks for saving us. What's your name? I'm Jack, and this is Ian and Dogmeat." He nodded to Ian and Dogmeat as he said their names, Ian giving a small nod. "Also, what are Skulz?"

"The name's Tycho, I'm what you might call a desert ranger, I like to help people out. As for Skulz, they're a gang that hang around these parts. Nasty bunch. Oh, by the way, sorry about the mess, Saul."

He spoke the last sentence to the bartender, apparently named Saul, who shrugged. "Hey, no one worth giving a damn got killed, so whatever. We'll clean up the mess."

Tycho nodded and turned back to the trio of heroes. "So, what brings you fellas here?"

Ian spoke up, but talked so only the four of them could hear. "Well, we're actually trying to stop Gizmo, Killian told us to record a confession out of him. We were about to do that before we heard all this commotion."

Tycho nodded, though impossible to read his expression behind the mask. "Yeah, I've heard of him. You fellas wouldn't happen to have room for one more, would ya?"

Jack looked at Ian, who nodded, and then Jack turned back to Tycho. "Sure, we could always use another helping hand."

Tycho nodded again, then at one of the dead Skulz members. "By the way, you should get some of that armor, I have a feeling you could use it, Jack."

Jack noticed the Skulz member was wearing thick leather armor, better than what he was wearing. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea." He took off his leather clothes, putting it away in his backpack, and looted the guy for his armor, putting it on. Luckily, it fit him like a glove. How lucky! He also found two knives and some 9mm bullets on the corpse, which he took. He could always sell the knives if he needed to. "Alright, you guys ready?"

"Yeah, let's get going." Tycho said, with Ian already on his way out. Jack and Tycho followed, with Dogmeat tailing Jack, panting and wagging his tail. The three entered Gizmo's casino, which had playing tables, slot machines, and people drinking. There were also men in metal armor, keeping an eye on things, especially the quartet as they made their way to the back. On the way, Jack reached into his pocket and turned the tape recorder on.

As they approached a door with two armored men beside it, one of them stepped forward. "You have business with Gizmo, punks?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, we have some crucial information for him."

The same man sneered and nodded. "Yeah, alright. But no funny business, or you'll never leave this building alive."

"Uh…we'll keep that in mind." Jack responded as they entered the office.

Inside was an African man in metal armor, standing straight and stiff. There was a desk in the room, behind which sat the fattest man that Jack had ever, or would ever, lay eyes on. He was bald, looked pissed off, and had a number of fat rolls on his face. He glared at the four and scoffed. "What? What do you guys want? This better be important!"

Jack stepped forward, volunteering to do the talking. "We're here to tell you that your assassin failed to kill Killian, Mr. Gizmo." Jack took on a really polite tone of voice, trying to butter the lard-bucket up.

Gizmo shook his head, his fat face jiggling slightly. "I don't know what you're talking about. Quit wasting my time."

Jack looked concerned for a moment, but thought of something quick and replied. "I see. Well, let's talk hypothetically here."

Gizmo leaned back, the chair giving an almost pained-sounding groan. "Go on…"

Jack liked where this was going. "Let's say, hypothetically now, you sent an assassin take out Killian, who was killed before he could. I could, hypothetically, take care of the problem for you for the right price."

The large man rubbed his chins in thought and his little eyes darted between Jack and his companions. "Is that right? Well, how do I know you can handle it?"

Jack gave a short chuckle. "Well, there are three of us and a dog. I think it'd be pretty easy for us to take out one guy. We've killed before, right boys?" He called back.

Ian nodded, playing along with Jack's game. "Yeah, we could bring his head to you within an hour."

Gizmo chuckled. "Well, I like the sound of this. Good. You take out Killian and bring me his dog tags as proof, and I'll make sure you are handsomely rewarded. Now, get out."

Jack bowed slightly. "Thank you for the chance, sir." He turned around and walked out, with his three companions following him. They said nothing until they were out of the casino and near Killian's shop. Jack let out a sigh of relief. "Wow, I didn't think it'd be that easy!"

Tycho chuckled and patted Jack on the back. "Nice acting in there. You almost had me convinced!"

Ian nodded, smiling slightly. "Yeah, that fat slug was eating out of your hands. Now, let's go share the good news with Killian."

The three headed into the store, where Killian was waiting for them. "Well, did you get the confession?" He immediately asked, not seeming curious about Dogmeat or Tycho. Jack merely grinned and pressed play on the tape recorder, letting Killian listen to the whole conversation. A smile creeped across this face as the tape ended. "Well I'll be damned. Nice going you three! Here, Jack, for doing such a good job, take this." He went to a shelf and grabbed a Shotgun and some shells, tossing them to Jack who put the gun on his back with the Hunting Rifle, and the shells in his pack. "I have more stuff for you all in a bit. But first, do you guys want to join us to take care of Gizmo?"

Jack nodded. "I know I'm in, how about you guys?"

Ian silently nodded and Tycho chuckled. "No way in Hell am I gonna miss this!" And Dogmeat gave a happy bark.

Killian chuckled. "Alright, let's go! Come on, you two." He said to the two guards in the room. The seven of them made their way to the casino, and Killian and the guards immediately opened fire on the men in metal armor, who were so shocked that several of them were already dead before the others could react. Jack, Ian, and Tycho helped out in the gunfire as well, while Dogmeat ripped out the throat of one of the closer guards. Soon, they were all dead, and the customers were cowering behind chairs and slot machines. They made their way to the back and Killian kicked the door open. Immediately a shot rang out and a bullet hit one of Killian's guards in the arm.

Gizmo had a 9mm Mauser drawn, looking absolutely livid. "You bastards have messed with me for the last time! Get them, Izo!" The African man, apparently Izo, took a sledgehammer from the corner and silently charged at the group, only to be met with an onslaught of bullets which, even with his metal armor, took him down before he could reach the group. "You son of a-" before Gizmo could finish, Killian fired a shotgun round into his gut, tearing open Gizmo's torso, causing him to bleed heavily. "D-Damn…it…you…" He gurgled lightly and collapsed onto the desk, dead.

Killian let out a little cheer. "Finally! It feels good to get rid of him! Is everyone okay?"

"I got hit in the arm, but I think I'll be fine." One of his guards said. Everyone else was fine, looking relieved.

"Alright! You four can loot the place as you like. Stop by the store in a bit, we have more stuff for you guys." Killian said as he and the guards left.

Jack looted Izo and Gizmo while Ian and Tycho busied themselves looking through the pockets of the other guards. Jack got a hundred and fifty caps along with Gizmo's Mauser and twenty 9mm Balls. Ian and Tycho got some bullets for their respective guns along with some money for their own. They then made their way to the store, where Killian gave them some food and water, enough to make it to The Hub. And with that, the group left the shop. "So, Tycho, what are you gonna do now?" Jack asked.

Tycho stretched his neck. "Well, I was thinking of sticking with you guys for a while longer. Nothing much else to do here. If that's alright with you two, of course."

"I have no problems with that." Ian said.

"Yeah, me neither. The four of us will make quite the group!" Jack said. On that good note, the four of them made their way south toward The Hub.


	4. A Most Deadly Foe

Unlike the last big trip, the trio of humans talked a bit more as they walked toward The Hub, with Dogmeat occasionally giving a bark to include his opinion on things, or growl at things that none of the men could see or smell. Jack and Ian started, each one telling Tycho their respective stories. Ian went first and then Jack, whose story surprised Tycho, though his mask wouldn't show it. "So, you're actually from a Vault? Those things are real?" Tycho asked with disbelief in his voice.

Ian interjected before Jack could respond. "It's true, he even lead me to another Vault himself to look for the Water Chip. I didn't believe him much at first either."

Tycho whistled, which sounded strange with his gas mask. "Well I'll be damned. We got an actual Vault Dweller on our hands!"

Jack chuckled. "Yeah, I didn't know Vaults were so hard to find. So uh, Tycho, you said you were a ranger, right? What exactly does that mean?"

"Well, we're basically an unorganized group of people that take out thugs and help people in general." Tycho said. "As of now we don't really have a leader of any kind, though sometimes small groups of us form that has a leader. I've always worked by myself, though."

Jack nodded. "I see. So, how did they even get started?"

Tycho shrugged. "I have no idea, they've been around for as long as I can remember, and I never concerned myself with their origins. I guess it just doesn't really matter to me."

The rest of the day was spent in moderate silence, the group sometimes stopping to eat some food or drink water, or just rest. The following day, Tycho showed Jack how to use his shotgun and hunting rifle, as he never used either before.

Three days after the group left Junktown, they arrived in an open town, not a gated one like Junktown or Shady Sands: The Hub. There were some groups of people around caravans being pulled by red cows with two heads. Apparently there were mutated animals that weren't violent and blood-thirsty. "Well guys," Ian said, looking around with an almost nostalgic look. "we've finally arrived at The Hub. If there's a Water Chip anywhere in this Wasteland, it's gotta be here." He noticed Jack staring at the two-headed cows. "Those are _Brahmin, by the way." He said, answering Jack's unasked question._

 _"That's a pretty odd name for them. But either way, where would we find a chip here?" Jack asked, petting Dogmeat behind his ear._

 _"Just follow me, I'll show you where the merchants are." Ian answered as he led the rest of the group through The Hub. There were several shops on the sides of the street, along with men and women in green armor and large guns watching the quartet make their way through the streets. Occasionally someone wearing shabby clothes would wander by, muttering to themselves and staring at something that apparently only they could see. "Stupid junkies." Ian muttered as a balding man passed by whispering to himself about "the terrible shapes". "They just walk about, high off of God knows how many chems. Just ignore them."_

 _They soon came across a trio of armed people standing in the middle of the street, right in their path. Two of them were wearing the green armor while one had metal, spiked armor on. The one in metal nodded at the group as they got closer. "Hey there, folks. Haven't seen you guys around here before, you new?"_

 _"Yeah, Jack and I here are new." Tycho responded, then nudged his head at Ian. "He's been here a few times though. Who are you, exactly?" He asked not unkindly._

 _"Oh, of course! The name's Depute Fry, I try to keep order around here as best I can. I just wanted to welcome you guys and give you a warning about some dangers, particularly Decker and the Maltese Falcon."_

 _Ian looked grim. "Decker. I've heard that name before. He's a crime lord or something, right?"_

 _Depute Fry nodded, also looking downdraught. "So the rumors go, but we have no proof that he's up to anything so we can't take him down."_

 _Well that sure seemed familiar to Jack. Did every town in the Wasteland have that problem? "I see. Well, we'll make sure to avoid that place then, thanks." Jack said. "Say, are there any Water Chips here, by any chance?" He thought me might as well try to ask while they were there._

 _"Mmm…I don't know. You'll have to ask the Water Merchants about that, they'd know." Depute Fry then suddenly seemed like he just remembered something. "Oh! Also, be careful when you head out back to the Wasteland, some caravans from the Far Go Traders have gone missing recently and we don't know what the cause is, so keep an eye out there." With that, the Depute and his two companions walked away._

 _"Does every place have this much trouble with it?" Jack asked._

 _"Yeah, pretty much." Tycho replied. "That's just how the Wasteland is. Oh, and we should probably check out the other merchants and get some supplies before we check out the Water Merchants."_

 _"Yeah, good idea. We're running low on food." Ian noted. They still had about a day's worth left, but even if they got the Water Chip here they'd have to make a long trip back to Vault 13. The four made their way to the merchant area of The Hub and split up, with Dogmeat going with Jack. Jack traded two of his knives, his leather jacket, the Mauser and all the ammo for it along with one hundred and forty-five caps for Metal Armor, seven hundred and ten caps, and twenty shotgun shells. He also got some rope elsewhere for twenty-two caps. Tycho and Ian got ammo for their respective weapons along with food, water, and some Stimpaks. "Alright, the Water Merchants should be close by." Ian said after they met up again. "Let's hope they have what we're looking for, or I don't know where we'd look."_

 _Jack tried not to think about it as they followed Ian to a building with a large storing tank in front of it. If he could save his Vault, what would he do? He couldn't go back and tell him he failed, but he couldn't just never come back either. The group walked into the building and saw a woman behind a desk, with some bodyguards at her side. She looked up from some papers and eyed the group, and seeming not to like the presence of Dogmeat inside her building. "Yes? Can I help you?"_

 _Jack took a deep breath, might as well just ask outright. "I'm from a Vault, and our Water Chip has stopped working, and we need a new one. Do you have any here I could buy?"_

 _The woman seemed surprised, she obviously wasn't expecting that. After a few seconds, she sighed. "Unfortunately, we have nothing like that here. And yes, I believe you're from a Vault, my grandfather was from one, actually."_

 _The statement hit Jack like a ton of bricks. No Water Chip? How could there not be one here? Was there any one that existed in this damned Wasteland? "Are…Are you sure there's nothing like here? Or anywhere else in The Hub?"_

 _The woman sighed again. "No, there isn't. Trust me, we'd know if there was. The best we can do is transport enough water to last a hundred days to it for two thousand caps."_

 _Well, that was a start. It would give him plenty of extra time to look for a Water Chip elsewhere, or maybe some other alternative. He was sure these people were trustworthy, and it's not like Vault 13 wouldn't be able to defend itself if these people were bad news. "Well…I don't have that many caps…but I'm sure my Vault will be more than happy to trade some of their technology with you when you arrive."_

 _The woman pondered the offer before nodding slightly. "Okay, that sounds fair. Now, where is this Vault of yours?"_

 _After showing the merchants where Vault 13 was on a map and handing over a thousand caps, the quartet was on its way, and Jack gave off a sigh. Tycho patted his back once while Dogmeat licked his hand, sensing his master's mood. "Now don't look so down, Jack! There has to be a Water Chip out there somewhere. What do you say, Ian? Got any other leads?"_

 _Ian rubbed his chin in thought and hesitated before answering. "Well…the Far Go Traders are the biggest merchant group here after the Water Merchants. If anyone knows, it'd be them."_

 _"I guess it's worth a shot. The worse that could happen would be another dead end." Jack really sounded down over this, causing Dogmeat to whine lightly, to which Jack rubbed his dog's head._

 _Ian scoffed. "Come on, Jack, grow a spine! You're never gonna get that chip with an attitude like that!"_

 _Jack looked offended for a moment, and then a slight smile appeared on his face. "Yeah…Yeah, you're right, Ian. Now, where are the Far Go Traders?" He sounded more confident now, and Dogmeat gave a happy bark, wagging his tail._

 _They soon arrived at the Far Go Traders, opening the door and going into the office, coming face-to-face with a bald, impatient looking man. Ian was the first to speak up. "You're Butch, right? You're the one in charge?"_

 _The man, apparently Butch, made a "tsk" sound. "Yeah, I'm Butch. What do you want? Time is money. Chit-chat is not money. You here about the job or what?"_

 _"Job? What job? You mean the missing caravans?" Tycho asked._

 _Butch nodded. "Yeah, several of 'em have gone missing in the past few weeks, and no one has been able to figure it out. There have been rumors, but…" He trailed off, looking uneasy._

 _"Say, listen." Jack interrupted. "We didn't come here about the job. We were wondering if you knew anything about a Water Chip."_

 _Butch scowled. "What, you expect me to just fork over information like that? I may have some information that'd be interesting to you, but you gotta find my caravans first!"_

 _Was this guy serious? A little bit of information to find caravans that no one else has had luck finding? He didn't really have much choice, however. He sighed in an annoyed manner. "Fine, we'll do it. Do you have any leads on what happened to these caravans?"_

 _Butch looked uneasy again. "Well…I was getting to that. Now, these are just rumors but…some say it was the work of a Deathclaw."_

 _Ian grunted and Tycho scratched the side of his head, and spoke up. "Deathclaw? Aren't those just myths?"_

 _"What's a Deathclaw?" Jack asked._

 _Butch looked annoyed. "Hey! I just said it was a rumor. But either way, Deathclaws are…well, no one really knows for sure. All we know is that if they're real, they're extremely deadly. Ask Beth for more information, she's the gossip around here."_

 _So, the group left, with Ian leading them to Beth's, the owner of the gun store around. They stepped inside and walked up to a woman with brown hair in a ponytail with leather armor. "Are you Beth, by any chance?" Jack asked._

 _"Yeah, I'm Beth. Can I help you with something?" Beth replied._

 _Tycho spoke up this time. "We were told by Butch to ask you about Deathclaws taking his caravans. You know anything about that?"_

 _Beth's face went a bit pale. "Well, uh…I'm only passing on what I heard, but apparently no one has actually encountered a Deathclaw and lived…except for one guy, but he isn't pleasant to talk to."_

 _"If it will get us closer to these caravans, we'll risk it. Who is this guy?" Jack asked._

 _"Well…_ _I know this old mutant in Old Town named Harold. He claims he's seen one." Beth said, shifting a bit in place._

 _A…mutant? A mutant what? A mutant human? "A…mutant? What does he look like?" Jack asked._

 _Beth chuckled dryly. "Oh, trust me, you'll know when you see him."_

 _And with that, Ian led the group to a part of The Hub known as Old Town. They looked around, seeing some folks in need of a good wash, but nothing like one would call a mutant. That is…until they got near the edge of The Hub. Shambling towards the group was the ugliest humanoid Jack had laid eyes on, even worse than his Ugly Uncle George from the Vault, and he was_ _ugly_ _. The figure that approached them was a sickly green color, whose flesh looked like it was melting off his bones, but stopped midway in the process. It had a slight hump as well. There was a hole in its chest where Jack could clearly see some of his ribs, which didn't seem to bother the creature much. The face was almost as bad. It didn't seem to have any lips, so it's misshapen, green teeth were on full display with the muscle showing on its face around the mouth, and no sign of having a nose anymore. Further up, it had a single, unblinking eye that was an unhealthy yellow, with a mass of flesh covering its other eye. The most appealing part of this being was the top of the head, which had a small patch of white, thin hair growing out of it. As the creature got close to the group, Dogmeat started to growl, but did nothing else. The men didn't draw their weapons. After all, this…thing looked like it could barely walk, so it didn't seem like it'd pose a threat to them. He stopped a few feet from the quartet and opened its maw and let out an awful, skin-crawling cough like an old chain-smoker would have. "Spare change, old friend, old pal? Can you help a poor mutant down on his luck?" It said, its voice raspy and sounding like it would lose it at any time. It shakily stretched out its hand to accept money. It smelled foul, like a rotting corpse left in the sun for a century. And from the looks of it, that just what it may have been._

 _The men stared at the pitiful mutant before them; none of them had seen anything like it before in their lives. It took about ten seconds for Jack to react. He fished around in his pack and grabbed a handful of caps, twenty-five to be exact, and deposited them in the mutant's hand. "Uh…sure, here."_

 _The shambling mess of flesh let out a gasp at the money, staring at it with its unnatural-looking eye, then back up at Jack. He let out an odd rasping noise, which the group soon found out was a laugh. "Oh, kind of ya, friend. Very kind. You know, if I could clear the gunk out of there, you, just might find a tear in Old Harold's eye." The mutant, apparently Harold, said. He looked down at Dogmeat, who was still barring his teeth at Harold. "Oh…it's been a decade since I've seen a dog. Nice doggy…" He leaned a bit, which seemed to take a lot of effort out of him, and reached out to pet Dogmeat, who snapped at his hand, just barely missing it. Harold let out a gasp and retracted his hand._

 _"Dogmeat! Bad! Calm down!" Jack scolded. Dogmeat whined slightly and sat down, but still stared intensely at Harold. "I'm sorry about that, uh…sir."_

 _Harold let out another laugh, sounding almost like a death rattle. "That's alright, it's my fault. I forgot animals ain't too keen about me."_

 _Tycho finally came over the initial shock. "So…you're Harold, right? What was that about a tear in your eye?"_

 _Harold let out a wheezy sigh, and Jack swore he saw bits of flesh come out of the disfigured hole that Harold called a mouth. "Rest of the Hubbers' been picking on me like a bad booger since I came back to town. I can't leave, though. When the deals are done it's still my home." He replied, wheezing as he spoke, as if he had run out of breath, yet he kept talking._

 _Ian spoke up next. "Really? The Hub is usually accepting of even the lowest kind of people."_

 _Harold made a "hmph" sound, which he somehow made sound raspy. "I guess mutants just don't count, do they?"_

 _"What exactly happened to you, Harold?" Jack blurted out without thinking._

 _Harold didn't seem offended though. He let out a wheezing chuckle, as if he's heard it all before. "Well, hand me one of those discarded chairs, and old Harold will tell ya." He pointed to a rotten chair leaning against a nearby building, which Tycho grabbed for the mutant, who sat down with a content sigh. "Now then…_ After the Great War, my Vault was one of the first to open. Whew. Long time."

Wait, he was around during the Great War? Wasn't that almost ninety years ago? Just how old is this guy? "You were there when the Great War happened? What was it like?"

The mutant before them shuddered slightly. "All started with the sirens. I was young, but ohh, I do remember that. Lotta terrible years followed." He stared off into space with his unblinking eye, a thousand-yard stare. Jack decided not to press the matter any further, though he was curious about how this war started. Harold shook his head slightly and cleared his throat. "Anyway, I remember walking outta the Vault late one morning."

"You said it your Vault was one of the first to open, right? What was the Wasteland like? What did you do?" Tycho asked. Jack felt envious of Tycho, chances are he didn't notice the stench Harold was giving off with that mask of his.

"Well, I was a trader at the start. Did pretty good making a circuit between survivors. Lost a lotta good people, though." He let out a racking cough which shook his whole body, to the point Jack was almost afraid the mutant would just up and fall apart before their eyes. He didn't, of course, and kept going. "As for the Wasteland, it was quite different from how it is now. Not many settlements, Mutants everywhere. Had to have an army of guards with, just to do a deal."

Mutants? There were others besides Harold? "Wait, Mutants? What Mutants? You're the first I've seen."

Harold gave a dry, scratchy chuckle. "Well, there were more of them back then. Couldn't spit without hitting one. They seemed to be coming from the northwest."

Ian was the next to speak up. "Did you investigate? Did you find out anything?"

Harold nodded, his bones audibly creaking. "We mounted an expedition. God, Richard. Richard Grey. Led a small group of us up there."

"Richard Grey?" Jack asked, idly petting Dogmeat's head, who was still staring Harold down.

"Richard Grey was a doctor. Little older than me, and friend was he smart. He found the source. We needed to see what was there. Maybe stop whatever was churnin' them boogers out. We thought we were prepared. Boy were we wrong." Harold said, a tone of dread bleeding into his voice.

"What did you find?" Jack pressed. What kind of source could there be for Mutants? A large pond of radioactive goo?

"Some sort of old military base. We lost a lotta folks getting in there. We knew it was the source because it was like someone went bargain shopping at mutantland! Geez! Cheaper by the dozens! Can't figure any other reason except that being the factory."

A factory that made Mutants? Just what the Hell was that all about? "What happened then?" Jack asked.

"We got pretty far inside. Wasn't a lot of us left by then. Grey, me and couple of others. There were robots there, defending the place. Surprised they were still working after the war. One of them robots got Francine. Mark was wounded, sent him back to the surface. Then it was just me and Grey." Harold continued, sounding a bit upset.

"What happened to Mark?" Tycho asked.

"To this day, I don't know. He never made it back here, and...well I...couldn't face the Wasteland again, so I...I never looked." Harold stared off again, another thousand-yard stare. He shook his head again and continued. "As for Grey and me, we made it to some sort of central core, like a plant of some sort. That's when it happened." He let out another sigh. "A robot crane crashed into us. Last I saw of Grey; he was flying through the air in-into some sort of acid bath. I was in bad shape and...well I passed out."

"How did you survive?" Ian asked.

Harold suddenly leaned forward and gave a loud cackling sound. "I didn't! I died!" He broke out into a sick sounding laughing fit as the men glanced at each other, with the fit ended by some coughing. "Oh, I love that joke. Really now, I have no idea. Woke up in the wasteland, barely hanging on. Got lucky and some traders I knew found me days later. Good thing, since I was already changing. They brought me here, and here I've been since."

That was quite the tale. A factory that made mutants, vats of acid, and something that could turn people into…what sat before them. "Well, thank you for the story, Harold."

The mutant waved his hand dismissively. "Nothin' to it. Just surprised you sat through it all."

Ian suddenly spoke up. "There's one other thing we need from you, the reason we came to you in the first place. We were told you knew about Deathclaws from Beth."

The mutant went pale…though it was hard to notice, his flesh just became a slightly lighter shade of green. "The Deathclaw? That's nightmare city right there. Why do you want to know?"

"We believe it's behind the missing caravans." Tycho said. "We want to kill it."

Harold brushed a withered hand through the little hair he had. "Well, I'll warn you now that this is a suicide mission, fellas, but if you really want to know I'll tell ya. A Deathclaw is a large lizard monster with spikes and claws, and a mean temper. I saw one in a cave that's about a three day walk from here."

"Can you show us where the cave is?" Ian asked.

Harold scoffed. "What, are you kidding? I can barely walk down the street. Ask Slappy over there." He raised a hand and pointed at a man staring at the sky. "He's a bit nutty, but harmless. He knows the way."

Jack nodded. This creature sounded deadlier than anything they've encountered so far, but with three men with guns, surely that stood a chance. "Alright, we will. Thank you, Harold."

Harold nodded, standing up shakily and shambled away, muttering to himself about normies with a death wish. Dogmeat seemed to finally calm down as the group approached Slappy, who didn't seem to notice them. Tycho cleared his throat. "Uh, sir?"

Slappy kept staring upward, his eyes glazed over and unfocused. "Hey! Slappy!" Ian snapped.

The bizarre man looked down from the sky toward Ian and simply stared for a few seconds. "Hello, talking shoe!" He blurted out.

The group exchanged glances, but decided to not even bother acknowledging that, this guy was clearly on drugs. "Uh, yeah. So look, Harold said there was a Deathclaw cave nearby, and that you could lead us to it." Ian said.

Slappy rubbed his chin for a few seconds, and then shrugged. "Sure, why not?" He said, as if Ian asked Slappy if he could spare five caps. "I'll take you there, but I won't go in."

"Fair enough, when can you lead us there?" Tycho asked.

Instead of answering, Slappy started to walk out of The Hub, stumbling every so often. "If this guy gets us lost, I'm gonna bash Harold's brains in." Ian muttered as he followed after Slappy, with the rest of the group following suit.

The next three days were uneventful. Slappy would lead the group through a seemingly endless stretch of desert, injecting some drugs into his body every so often. Tycho spoke up about it when Jack asked if they should stop him. "Take some advice from me, Jack. Never stand between a junkie and his chems." And so Jack left it alone. Any attempt to engage Slappy in conversation was met with Slappy ignoring it, or a non sequitur.

After three days of travel, they arrived at a large cave, jutting out in the middle of the otherwise flat landscape. "Alrighty-roony!" Slappy said. "This is the place. See you giant grenades later." With that, he made his way back towards The Hub.

"Well, at least we won't have to deal with him on the way back. My Pip-Boy can get us back." Jack commented. He stared into the blackness of the cave, and Dogmeat whined, seeming uneasy. Jack himself seemed nervous too.

"Well," Tycho piped up, "we won't get anything done just standing here. Let's get movin'!" He bravely marched into the cave with the rest of the group following him.

The inside of the cave smelled rancid, like it was full of dead bodies. There were large eggs the size of children along the walls. "I really envy that gasmask of yours, Tycho. It reeks in here." Ian commented. "I guess that means we might have the right place.

Tycho gave a, thanks to the gasmask, distorted chuckle. "Yeah, this is pretty much the exact reason I have this thing. Too many corpses out there. This one time, the day that set me on getting one of these, I came across a-"

Tycho's story was cut short by a loud, guttural growl coming from around a corner in the cave. Dogmeat, who had his tail between his legs up until now, barred his teeth and growled back. "Oh, shit…" Jack muttered as he drew his hunting rifle. Tycho and Ian followed suit, drawing a shotgun and 10mm pistol respectively. Loud, thudding footsteps started in the darkness, slowly making their way to the group. "Alright guys…get ready…" Jack whispered. He didn't want to admit it, but he was terrified.

The thuds got louder…and louder, as did Dogmeat's growling. After what seemed like hours, the Deathclaw showed itself. It was like something out of a nightmare. It had to have been ten feet tall, at the very least, and covered with dirty brown scales, a reptilian monster. It walked on its hind legs and had claws as long as Jack's arms, and curly horns on its head like some sort of devil. Its teeth were like jagged, rusty knives and it had milky white eyes, yet it seemed to be able to see as it looked directly at the group, and gave off another growl. "Holy fucking shit." Tycho muttered, raising his shotgun and aiming at the monster's face.

Before Tycho, or anyone else, could shoot, Dogmeat let out a fierce bark and charged at the Deathclaw, who let out a small roar of its own and attempted to swipe at Dogmeat as he got closer, but missed and Dogmeat sunk his teeth into the Deathclaw's leg, as far as the monster's scales would let the determined dog, at least. "Dogmeat! No!" Jack yelled as he fired at the Deathclaw, barely missing. This got Tycho and Ian to start opening fire as well, their shots hit but didn't seem to do too much to the Deathclaw, the wounds bled, but the Deathclaw didn't seem affected at all. It focused on Dogmeat first, swiping at him with its huge hand, knocking him into a wall who gave a yelp of pain. The beast then charged forward toward the men, who were shooting as fast as they could at the incoming wall of scales, their bullets either missing or not doing enough damage to slow the Deathclaw down.

When it reached the group, it made a wide swipe, large enough to slice all of them, luckily Jack and Ian made it out of the way in time, but Tycho got hit in the torso, causing him to fall onto his back while dropping his shotgun, three slash marks cut through his clothes and chest, bleeding out. "Fuck!" He swore, reaching for his shotgun as the Deathclaw readied another strike. Jack and Ian kept firing, however, and a lucky shot from Ian hit the Deathclaw dead in the eye, causing it to reel back and howl in pain, clumsily placing a huge claw over its destroyed eye. It was literally blind with fury and pain as it swung at the air, trying to hit the group, managing to backhand Ian into a wall and hit Jack with its tail, sending him to the ground.

Jack kept a hold of his hunting rifle as he fell, which was lucky as the Deathclaw quickly got over its eye injury, or at least enough to watch where it was going. It narrowed its eyes at Ian, who was dazed from his blow, the Deathclaw growled loudly as it approached the fallen man, Dogmeat was too dazed to help and Tycho was shakily reloading his shotgun. "Hey! Come over here!" Jack yelled, as he fired his hunting rifle at the beast. It hit the Deathclaw in the shoulder, making it growl again as it turned and charged at Jack, letting out an ear-splitting roar. "Wait for it…Wait for it…" Jack muttered. The Deathclaw, had its maw open, ready to bite Jack's head clean off. At the last second, Jack stuck the end of his hunting rifle into the Deathclaw's mouth and fired. The inside of the monster's mouth was apparently not as heavily armored as its scales, as the bullet went straight through the back of its mouth, and the angle also made a large hole in the creature's head and skull, destroying its brain and killing it instantly. The force of the shot made the Deathclaw's corpse fall backward, luckily not crushing Jack or anyone else. Jack stayed there, panting heavily and processing what just happened. That was his plan, of course, but he didn't think it'd actually work so flawlessly. After a few seconds, he called out. "Hey…you guys alright?!"

Ian groaned and got up, rubbing the back of his head. Tycho shakily got onto his feet, starting to rummage into his pack. "I've had worse." He said with a light chuckle. Dogmeat gave out a whimper and limped over to Jack, licking his face gently.

"Ehehe, easy Dogmeat. Glad we're all okay. Let's use our Stimpaks and make sure that was the only creature here." Jack said. Tycho and Ian nodded as they got out needles with red fluid in them. Each man ejected one into their arm; Tycho used two, while Jack used one on Dogmeat. Over the next five minutes, they felt right as rain; Tycho's wounds closed up, Ian's head stopped pounding, Jack didn't feel sore, and Dogmeat could walk on all fours again. "That's some fancy technology they had back then." Jack commented, patting Dogmeat's head.

"Thank God for that." Ian agreed. "Now let's go see what we're dealing with." He got his pistol ready, while Jack and Tycho got their respective guns out and ventured further into the cave. It was silent at first, and then they heard a groaning noise. "What the Hell is that? Doesn't sound like a Deathclaw..."

"We should still be careful, just in case." Jack commented. The quarter rounded the corner and saw something they did not expect. On the ground, bleeding heavily was a giant green man. He had to have been eight feet tall, and with muscles beyond belief, while wearing leather armor. He was lying in a pool of his own blood, and groaning. "What the fuck is that…?" Ian asked as the group got closer, guns at the ready just in case.

The large man looked up at the group as they got close, and swallowed heavily before opening his mouth to speak. "It was so fast...My brothers were gone...Could not help..." He choked out; sounding quite close to death.

The group looked at each other, not sure what to make of this. What was this thing? A mutant like Harold? He looked very different from one. "Who are you? _What_ are you?" Tycho asked.

"I'm...I can't remember...Was the leader of...It...Maybe my holodisk..." He seemed confused, unaware of his surroundings. He reached into a pocket of his leather armor and got out a bloody holodisk, holding it out and Jack reluctantly took it. "We...We were scouting for primes...Came from...From the northwest." He continued.

Jack's eyes widened. "Wait, northwest? From a factory? Who sent you?!"

The creature looked up at the ceiling, seeming even more out of it now. "Father... Where are you father? Yes, Master..." He reached upward before seizing up, letting out one last guttural breath, and going limp.

"I…I think that thing is dead." Ian commented. He looked at the holodisk that the giant man gave Jack. "See what that that says, maybe it will give us more information."

Jack nodded. "Right." He inserted the holodisk into his Pip-Boy, which made a few whirring sounds. After about ten seconds, audio came from the Pip-Boy.

"Base, this is Scavenger Team two come in. Over." A voice rang out, it sounded like the giant man that just died before the group.

"We're reading you loud and clear, go ahead. Over." A second voice said, it sounded similar to the first voice, but a bit deeper.

"We've collected four males, two females, and their supplies from the caravan. They're not too badly contaminated. Tell the Lieutenant that we're sending them ahead, they might be able to survive the process. We're going to wait here for a few more days to try and intercept another caravan. Over." The first voice replied.

"Roger that. Were any casualties accrued during the acquisition? Over." The second voice asked.

"Negative. Another clean sweep. Base, also tell Scavenger Team one that we've run across the same problem they had. One of our scouts did not return from his perimeter patrol. A few of our other scouts reported that there was something big and fast seen near our camp last night. I'll be checking it out personally at 0600 hours tomorrow morning. Over." The first voice said, probably talking about the Deathclaw.

"Copy. We'll be awaiting your report. If possible, try to capture it. The Master would be very pleased. Over." The second voice finished as the tape stopped.

The group looked at each other in grim silence. Base? Scavenger Team? Lieutenant? Master? "Just what the fuck is going on?" Ian asked breathlessly. "These…things have been attacking the caravans? How many of them are there?!"

Jack shook his head. "I don't know, but we have to get news of this to The Hub, and fast."

Tycho nodded. "Damn straight, this sounds like the start of somethin' big, just a bad feeling I have." He commented. Dogmeat let out a whimper, seeming to sense the mood of the group. With that, the four of them quickly left the cave and headed back towards The Hub to share this disturbing news.


	5. The City of the Dead

"Wait, wait, wait. I don't think I heard you right. You found what in a cave?" Butch asked, digging into his left ear with his pinky. Jack and his group made it back safe and sound to The Hub, and the first thing they did was go to the Far Go Traders and talk to Butch and told him about their encounter.

"You heard us right; we found a Deathclaw and some sort of giant mutant man." Ian replied sternly. "It and some other mutants were attacking the caravans."

Butch rubbed his chin, not looking convinced. "That's a pretty strange tale. How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Jack sighed and fiddled with his Pip-Boy. "Well, the mutant we found had a Holodisk that played this." He pressed play and the message they heard played, with Butch's eyes getting wider as it went on.

When the tape was finished, Butch ran a hand over his shaven head. "That…I…uh…What?"

Tycho nodded. "And not only that, but we believe there's a factory or some sort of source for these mutants."

Butch shook his head in shock. "A factory? Well…um…well uh. I'll have to talk to the Committee. Yeah, they'll know what to do. Done and done. Get out, 'cause I got stuff to do." He said as he dismissively waved the group away.

"Hey, wait!" Jack spoke up. "You said something about knowing where to find a Water Chip. We had a deal."

Butch nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Right, right. Now, this is just a rumor, though rumors usually end up having a lick of truth to them out here, but I've heard word that Necropolis has working water, so they may have a Water Chip. That good enough for ya?"

Necropolis? That sounded foreboding. Jack was aware that "Necro" meant "death", so a city of the dead. "What kind of a place is Necropolis?"

Butch sighed, obviously annoyed that the group was still there. "It's full of Ghouls apparently. Nothing but. It's to the east of here, about a three-day walk. Now if you're quite done, take this reward for finding the source of missing caravans and get outta here!" Butch said, shoving a bag with eight hundred caps in Jack's hand and shooing the group out before they could get another word in.

As the quartet stepped out of the building, Jack turned to Ian and Tycho. "Necropolis? Is there really a city of the dead out here? And what's a Ghoul?"

Tycho nodded. Even with the gas mask, Jack had a feeling he had an uneasy expression on his face. "Yeah, that's what people call it. It's called Necropolis because of the Ghouls, who are basically like zombies."

Ian piped up. "They used to be people like us, but somehow radiation has turned them into burnt-looking creatures. Necropolis is apparently a colony of them, and from what I hear that don't like us normal humans."

This Wasteland was just getting more and more depressing with each passing day. "Well, we don't have much of a choice, do we? That is, if you guys are still willing to come with me."

Ian nodded. "Yeah, it sounds like fun. I'll stick around with ya."

Tycho chuckled. "It does sound pretty interesting. And to be honest, I'm pretty curious to see a working Vault."

Dogmeat barked happily, wagging his tail and looking up at his master. "Thanks guys. Now, let's get some supplies and head to Necropolis." And that they did. After buying enough food and water for a week, the quartet headed to the east.

The trip was uneventful, as a lot of the trips had been. The group decided to pass some of the time by theorizing. "So, what do you think is up with this factory and this Master guy?" Ian suddenly asked on the second day of their journey. "Maybe he's some sort of green mutant guy that's twice as big as the others or something."

Tycho rubbed his chin in thought. "I dunno, maybe. I just can't imagine something that big. Maybe it's a normal person that is somehow controlling the mutants. Maybe he's the one creating them, so they obey him out of loyalty."

"I dunno, both of those seem equally as likely to me." Jack intervened. "But whoever, or whatever, this Master guy is, we have to put a stop to whatever his plans are. There's no way he's up to anything good."

Ian nodded. "Yeah, I guess it doesn't really matter what he is, we just have to take him out. No one else seems to know about it, so I guess it's up to us. I mean, we took out that Deathclaw thing, so whatever this Master guy is, he can't be too hard to kill." Ian didn't sound too entirely confident there.

"Well, I may have been getting ahead of myself when I said we had to put a stop to him. He could potentially have an army of those giant green men, and we're just three guys and a dog." Jack replied.

"True. Let's just focus on getting that Water Chip first." Ian said. Jack nodded and the rest of the day was spent in silence.

On the third day of the trip, the group approached a town. And not a town like The Hub or Junktown either. This town had buildings over a dozen stories high all over the place. "Well, that must be it." Tycho said.

The group entered the town and were met with an awful smell…aside from Tycho, that is. Jack and Ian coughed violently while Dogmeat whined and pawed at his own. "Jesus Christ, what _is_ that?!" Ian asked.

"I don't know, but I'm about to rip that gasmask right off of Tycho's face in a moment." Jack responded.

This elicited a chuckle from Tycho. "Now, now. Don't be jealous of my superior equipment. What does it smell like?"

"Death." Jack said. "Like a pile of rotting corpses. "Could it be those Ghoul things that Butch mentioned?"

"Probably is. I've never actually encountered one, but I know people that have, and they always comment on their smell. I guess a town full of them would stink to high heaven." Ian replied. He pulled out his 10mm pistol. "We should probably be careful; these Ghouls might hate normal people."

"Good idea." Jack said as he got out his Hunting Rifle. "Let's just take it nice and slow for now."

And so the group did, creeping through the run-down city, keeping an eye out for anything moving or dangerous. They couldn't help but feel they were being watched, but they never saw anything around them, or peering out from one of the rotting old houses that passed by. They were all keeping an eye peeled for a place where a Water Chip might be, but none of them saw such a place. Dogmeat would occasionally whimper, with his tail between his legs. "Wait, what's that? You hear that?" Tycho whispered.

The group stopped to listen, around the corner from a nearby house they could hear voices, though none of them could make out what they were saying. The four of them slowly pressed up against the wall of the house as the men peered around the corner while Dogmeat hung back. The site was…not a pleasant one. Standing with their backs to the group were two hideously deformed creatures. They looked like men that had all of their skin burned to a crisp, with none of their hair remaining on their head. They wore nothing but tattered pants, and they were so scrawny and boney it looked as if they had never had a proper meal in their lives. They were talking about "big green men", though it was hard to make out exactly what they were saying. Their voices were raspy, as if they were gargling rusty nails as they spoke. "I'm…guessing those are Ghouls." Jack whispered, having to resist plugging up his nose, as the smell of rotting corpses got a Hell of a lot stronger.

"Yeah, those are Ghouls alright." Ian said. "Ugly fucks…"

"We gotta get around them somehow." Tycho said, looking around the area. "Maybe that sewer entrance over there?" He pointed to an open manhole that was behind the Ghouls. "And honestly, I think underground would be where a water pump powered by a chip would be anyway."

"Good idea, then we just need to kill these two." Ian said, preparing his pistol and aiming it at the Ghouls.

"Hey! Not so fast!" Jack whispered loudly. "What if there are other Ghouls around here that'd hear the gunshots? We don't want an entire town of these guys on our asses. Besides, it's not like they've done anything wrong." Even though they were disgusting to look at, they were probably just humans exposed to something like Harold was and deformed.

"Yeah, good point." Ian said. "I just really don't like Ghouls. But alright, let's just stay very quiet."

The group quietly crept toward the manhole, with Jack petting Dogmeat and shushing him quietly, and luckily Dogmeat got the message and didn't whimper or attack the Ghouls that were obviously bothering him with their presence. The quartet managed to make it to the manhole without alerting the two Ghouls, with Ian and Tycho going down first, slowly and silently. Jack had to carry Dogmeat under his arm as he climbed down with one hand. Luckily, the Ghouls never turned around and the four of them made it into the sewers undetected. "Oh, wow." Jack said as he looked around and put a wriggling Dogmeat down. They were in a sewer system that was oddly quite spacious. "I didn't expect there to be so much room here."

Tycho shrugged, getting his shotgun. "Yeah, that is pretty weird. But convenient, I suppose. Let's just hope the Water Chip is down here…if there even is one in this damned city."

The group crept through the sewers, looking for anything useful. After about ten minutes of nothing but twists, turns, and annoying rats, the group saw a light coming from around a nearby corner. "Maybe that light is coming from the machine." Jack said. "I don't know what else it could be!"

All of a sudden, Dogmeat barred his teeth and started to growl, letting out a loud bark. Strange murmurings came from around the corner, causing Dogmeat to bolt toward the light, barking and growling menacingly. "Ahh! Nice doggie…Sweet doggie…" A raspy voice called out.

"What the fuck…?" Ian muttered as the men rounded the corner. Instead of a machine, there were half a dozen Ghouls slowly backing away from an angry Dogmeat. There was a barrel with a fire lit in it, which was giving off the glow that the group saw earlier.

For the first time, Jack got to see what a Ghoul's face looked like, and it honestly made him pity the creatures more. Their noses were rotted off, and he could see inside a few of their mouths, and they were missing most of their teeth with the ones they had left were a disturbing green color. Jack stepped forward next to Dogmeat, turning to the canine. "Dogmeat! That's enough! Calm down!" Dogmeat whined lightly, but sat down and stared at the Ghouls. Jack turned to the group of mutated humans. "Sorry about that, I don't know why he's acting like that."

One of the Ghouls nervously took a step forward to the group. "That's alright; animals just don't really like our kind. I was wondering how a dog got down here in the first place. Thanks for not shooting us, by the way."

"Uh…No problem." Ian said, stepping up next to Jack with Tycho. "What are you Ghouls doing down here anyway?"

"Well, we had to leave the surface because of the other Ghouls. The surface of Necropolis and the water is controlled by Set and his ghouls. We are a much more peaceful group, and that disgusts Set." The Ghoul explained, the five Ghouls behind him nodding in agreement.

"Who is Set?" Tycho asked. "And what kind of name is Set anyway?" He muttered to himself under his breath.

"And did you say he controls water?" Jack asked. Could this be the lucky break he was hoping for?

"Set is a Ghoul like us, but he's taken a position of power and rules Necropolis with an iron fist. He doesn't like peaceful folk or weaklings, so he banished us down here. He still gives us water though. Speaking of which, yeah, he controls the water. Until recently, we used a water pump, but that broke down. From what I hear, there's someplace underground where a chip purifies the water in a computer or something."

"A Water Chip?! There's one around here somewhere? How do I find it?" Jack asked. He couldn't believe it, Butch was right about this place.

"Well…I don't know the exact location myself, you'd have to ask Set…but he hates normies, so he'd either kill you or demand a favor first. Why do you want to know where this thing is?"

"I need it for my people. Our Water Chip broke and I've been all over the place looking for a replacement." Jack explained.

"I…I see. But if you take the Water Chip, we won't have water. But…if you are willing, it may be possible to fix the water pump. There are apparently some spare parts for it around these sewers somewhere…but there must be monsters or something as we sent some of our own to go find them and they never came back." The Ghoul explained, one of the Ghouls behind him shuddered slightly.

If that was all they needed, how could Jack say no? He needed that chip, but he couldn't rob a city of water like that. "Okay, we'll go look for those parts, then. And where is this water pump?" Jack asked.

The Ghoul shuffled in place. "You'd have to ask Set about its exact location, sorry. If you get the parts first and show it to him, he may let you live and fix it." He explained.

Jack nodded. "We'll have to try. It wouldn't be fair to leave all of you with no water; right guys?" He turned back to Ian, whose arms were crossed, and Tycho who nodded.

"Damn straight. How scary can this Set guy be anyway?" Tycho said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, I guess we gotta." Ian said. "Any hints on where this water pump part would be?"

"Well, it's nowhere in the sewers from where you came, that's for sure. All I know is it's down that way." The Ghoul said as he pointed down a new passageway. "It can't be far; these sewers don't go on for much longer."

Jack nodded. "Well, thank you. Don't worry; we'll get that pump fixed in no time." With that, Jack went the direction the Ghoul pointed to, with Dogmeat following close behind him. Tycho and Ian quickly followed suit.

After about ten minutes of wandering through the sewers, backtracking whenever they hit a dead-end, Ian piped up. "So, do either of you know how to even fix a water pump? I sure as fuck don't."

"I'm sure three of us could figure it out together. That, or I'm sure this Set guy or one of those Ghouls would know. There's a city full of them, at least one is bound to know." Tycho pointed out.

"That's true." Ian said. "Wait, you guys hear that?" The group stopped and listened. There were large shuffling noises ahead, but too far away and too dark to see what was making the sounds. "Shit, look." Ian pointed to the floor ahead of them where a dead Ghoul was lying in pieces. "This must be what's been killing these guys."

Tycho got out his shotgun. "Let's go check it out. We took down a Deathclaw, I'm not afraid."

"Right behind you." Jack responded as he got out his Hunting Rifle. Ian got out his pistol and the three men and Dogmeat advanced toward the sounds. They rounded the corner to find…nothing but a Mole Rat, which hissed at the group. "What? Is this the monster that Ghoul was talking about?"

"Well, Ghouls aren't really known for being very strong; they're practically walking corpses as it is." Ian responded, nonchalantly shooting the Mole Rat between the eyes, killing it in one shot. "Anything that looks like a part of a water pump around here?"

The group looked around the room they were in, until Jack knocked his foot on something in the corner. "I think I found it!" He called out, picking up the object at his feet. It was some metal with wires coming out and buttons on it. "Looks like something that might go into a pump."

"Good enough for me. If we got it wrong, that Set guy could just tell us." Tycho commented. "Now let's get topside."

Jack stored the parts into his pack as the group went up a nearby ladder. Jack had to go last, carrying Dogmeat up. They came out of a manhole in front of a startled looking Ghoul with a spear. He stood in front of the closed doors of what looked like an old church, and he did not look happy. "What are you normies doing here? This is Set's town!" The Ghoul growled.

"We're…uh…actually here to talk to him." Jack said, ready to out his gun if needed. "We heard that the water pump needed fixing."

The Ghoul muttered quietly to himself, mulling over Jack's words. "Well, it's not like we can't easily kill you anyway. Go on in." He stepped to the side, allowing the group access to the church. "But the dog stays outside. Set hates dogs."

Jack frowned, but turned to the anxious looking Dogmeat. "Sorry, boy, you gotta stay here for a bit. We'll be right back though, okay? Stay here, and don't cause any trouble." He patted Dogmeat's head, who sat in front of the door and whined.

Jack opened the door and the three men entered the church. There were Ghouls off to the side, glaring at the trio and muttering to each other. At the far end of the church was a rather strange looking Ghoul, who scowled as the group reached him. He was grey, unlike the burnt looking Ghouls they've seen so far. He had a single, red eye while the other area where his eye would be was covered by melted skin. He had a ring of metal on his head and what looked like a speaker coming out of the side of his head. The Ghoul snarled and spit a strange black glob onto the floor. "There'd better be a killer reason for standin' in my shadow. Does 'next on the menu' ring a bell for ya normie?" He growled.

Jack cleared his throat. Okay, so this guy clearly hated "normies" like the three of them. Maybe sucking up a bit would be helpful. "We're very sorry for intruding, sir, but we were told by a Ghoul into the sewers to talk to Set. Is that you?"

The Ghoul nodded, seeming just as ticked as before. "What is that? Sucking up? Listen, walker, I don't do the deal with norms, so blowing smoke up the tail ain't going to get you head seat at the table. But yeah, I'm Set. What the Hell do you want normie?"

Okay, sucking up didn't work. Jack was about to respond when Ian piped up. "We want that Water Chip of yours, alright? We have a part we think will fix your water pump. We fix it, and get the Water Chip. Sound fair?"

Set glared at Ian with his single eye, then let out a "hmm" as he scratched his burnt head. "The Mutants at the water shed need dirt-naps. Makes my shadow grow-"

Tycho interrupted. "Makes your what grow?!" He glanced downward for a brief moment.

Set cleared his throat; though it sounded like he was choking on a golf ball. "Interrupt me again and you'll be takin' a dirt-nap, normie. As I was sayin', kill the mutants and fix the pump, and you can keep the chip. Now, show me the part ya got."

Jack took the machine part out of his pack and handed it to Set, who turned it over in his scrawny hands. He let out another "hmm" as he inspected the buttons and the wires. After about a minute, Jack spoke up. "So, is that the right part?"

Set shoved the part back into Jack's hands. "Well whaddya know, the normie did something right. Yeah, that's the right part. The pump is to the north, bein' guarded by those Mutants. Big, green fellas. Can't miss 'em."

Big green men? Could it be the same kind of Mutant like the one in the Deathclaw's cave? "Thank you, Set. We'll get right on it." Jack said as he turned and walked out of the church; Ian and Tycho following. When they got out, Jack patted his leg and Dogmeat got up and followed the men as they walked north, wagging his tail. "So…We have to fight some of those big green men then, huh? Can we even handle that?"

"I don't see why not." Ian said. "We killed that Deathclaw that killed one of them, so we already took out something stronger than one of these things."

"Though that was only one Deathclaw; there are a number of mutants we have to kill." Tycho argued. "We better be prepared for anything."

The group kept quiet at that point, walking through the mostly empty streets of Necropolis. Every so often they'd pass a house with a Ghoul glaring out the window at them, but they did nothing else. Eventually they came across a sort of clearing; in the middle of which was one of the Mutants. Even though they already saw one Mutant, it was a bit different seeing one standing upright and healthy. It had huge, rippling muscles which its lack of shirt showed off. It was standing there scratching its belly with a vacant expression on its face. It noticed the group and just…stared. It didn't move, look angry or hostile or anything. It just stared. "Uh…Is it gonna do anything?" Ian asked after about twenty seconds of nothing.

"Maybe we should try talking to it." Tycho suggested. "It doesn't look like it has any weapons."

"But it might have friends nearby." Ian argued.

"Well, we can't kill it without alerting them anyway." Jack pointed out. "Let's just keep our guns ready, just in case."

"Well, I guess so. It doesn't look smart. Maybe we can convince it to just leave." Tycho said.

So the group slowly crept toward the Mutant, who continued to stare. Dogmeat whimpered and had his tail between his legs as they got close. When they were about ten feet from the creature, Jack spoke up. "Uh…Hi there. How are you?" He didn't really know what to say, so he just blurted out a greeting.

The Mutant scratched his head, which had a patch of messy black hair on it. "Guh…You speak to Harry." It said, not sounding like the brightest of creatures. "Me Larry, Harry over there." It gestured to a nearby shack.

"Uh…Thanks, Larry. We'll…do that." Jack said awkwardly.

"Okay! Bye-bye!" Larry said cheerfully as he looked up to stare at the sun.

"Maybe this will be easier than we thought." Ian muttered as the quartet walked toward the shack. Inside was another of the Mutants, he was wearing metal armor and had a thick band on his head, holding up what seemed like an extra thick upper lip.

"Uh…Hello there." Jack said, hand near his Hunting Rifle. "Are you Harry?"

The Mutant stared at the men, leaning in close and causing them to take a step back. "Mmm…Hey! You not Ghouls!" It said.

"Uh…No, we're not. Why does that matter?" Tycho asked.

"Lou said not-Ghouls go see him. Harry take you to go see Lou now." Harry replied.

"Lou? Who the Hell is Lou?" Ian asked, his pistol raised towards Harry, who didn't seem to notice or was too stupid to know what Ian was up to.

"He Lou Tenant. He my boss. Not tell him, but Harry could take on good day." Harry replied with a guffaw.

"Lou Tenant? You mean Lieutenant?" Jack asked. "Is he The Master?"

Harry shook his head, his thick upper lip flapping slightly. "No! The Master is Master. Lou is Lou! No more questions! Non-Ghouls go see Lou now!"

"That's not gonna happen." Jack said, taking out his Hunting Rifle. "You guys have to leave this city, alright?" Jack thought it was at least worth a shot.

"No! If you no go to Lou, then Harry smash!" Harry yelled. Without missing a beat, Jack fired the rifle at Harry, aiming for his face and hit. It was a direct hit, but Jack couldn't tell where as Harry's hands flew right to his face and let out a howl of pain. "Yeeeargh! Larry! Barry! Terry! Gary! Sally! Help!" He called.

"Ah, fuck." Ian cursed as a roar came from behind the group. They turned to see Larry charging at them, with giant spiked knuckles on his hands. "Shit! Scatter!" The three men left the shack Harry was in, who was still stumbling around blind, as loud shouts came from a hallway further into the building. Dogmeat ran at Larry, growling loudly and letting out a fierce bark before biting down on his leg, eliciting a bellow from the Mutant. Instead of punching Dogmeat like a smart person would do, he just started to shake his leg to try and get Dogmeat off, to no avail.

Another roar erupted from a nearby building as yet another Mutant appeared. It had no weapons and simply charged at the group. "I got this one!" Tycho said as he fired his shotgun at the rampaging beast as shouts from inside the building Harry is in. Ian quickly slams the door and stands in front of it, trying to keep it shut. The shotgun blast slowed down the unnamed Mutant, but it only stumbled as it kept coming at the group. Tycho tried to run away, but the Mutant grabbed his leg and dangled him up in the air, roaring in his face.

"Tycho!" Jack called out. He aimed his Hunting Rifle as the Mutant, but Tycho was thrashing too much, dodging the Mutant's punches, so Jack didn't want to risk the shot. He got distracted by a yelp as Dogmeat was shaken off the Mutant's leg, which kicked the dog a few feet across the ground. "HEY! Hands off my dog!" Jack yelled as he fired the rifle at the Mutant's torso, making the creature groan and turn to Jack, who fired another shot that hit the Mutant in the eye, killing the abomination in one hit.

"Shit! Shit!" Tycho yelled. The Mutant holding him got a grip on his left arm, and he was currently stabbing the Mutant's arm with a small knife with his right hand, forced to drop the shotgun.

"You get Tycho, I got these guys covered!" Ian called out. He was at the window to the shack looking in, firing his pistol at the Mutants inside. "There are four more in here; I'll hold them off as long as I can!" As he said this there was a bang on the door from the inside. For whatever reason, the Mutants were trying to break down the door rather than open it normally.

Jack took this chance to run around to the back of the Mutant holding Tycho and shot him in the back, making it roar out in pain and forcing it to drop Tycho, who fell onto his side with a groan. The Mutant turned around to roar at Jack, who shot it in the neck, causing it to drop like a bag of hammers to the ground, clutching its neck uselessly as it bled to death. Jack rushed over to Tycho. "Shit, are you okay, Tycho?"

Tycho coughed and sat up, his left arm limp. "Yeah, I'm fine. My arm's in a lot of pain, but I'll be alright. Go help Ian." He gestured over to Ian, who was still shooting into the window while the door had large splintering cracks in it.

Jack was about to rush over when Ian let out a surprised yell as he ran from the window, just in time as a burst of fire erupted in it. "What the fuck!?" Jack blurted out. "Ian, are you okay?!"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Ian yelled back, reloading his gun. Jack took the time to do the same with his rifle. "I managed to take out two of them. Now there's just that Harry guy and one with a fucking flamethrower!"

"Great, just what we fucking need." Jack muttered. He turned back to Tycho. "Tycho, think you'll be able to use that shotgun?"

Tycho shook his head, clutching his left arm. "No can do, Jack! My left arm won't move at all!"

"Shit…Alright Ian, get ready to fire as soon as that door opens." Jack said, aiming his rifle at the nearly broken door. Ian nodded and followed suit with his pistol.

Soon, the door splintered apart and a pissed off looking Mutant with a large flamethrower came out, roaring. Jack and Ian immediately opened fire, riddling the Mutant with bullets and killing the beast in a matter of seconds. There was a saddened groan from inside as Harry stepped out over the Mutant's corpse, holding an odd, large gun in his hand. He had a missing eye from Jack's bullet, and pings in his armor from Ian. "No! Not Barry! Harry kill bad normies!"

Harry fired the gun, and instead of a bullet, a blast of light came from it, hitting Jack in the leg. A burning and shocking sensation erupted in his leg and traveled through his body. "Gah! FUCK!" He dropped onto his knee. What the fuck did that freak hit him with?! Ian wasted no time in firing at Harry, hitting the Mutant's armor and one of his hands, making him drop the gun just as Ian ran out of bullets. Harry growled and turned toward Ian, looking ready to charge. Jack summoned a desperate strength and fired at Harry with his Hunting Rifle and hit him on the side of the head, the bullet going clean through out on the other side. Harry let out a guttural groan and dropped to the ground, dead. Jack looked around. Every Mutant around them was dead. They won. "Hey…Is everyone alright?" Jack called out.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ian said.

"I'll live." Tycho said. He looked over at Dogmeat, who hadn't gotten up from the ground. "I don't think Dogmeat is doing well though." He said, standing up and clutching his injured arm.

"Shit! Dogmeat!" Jack tried to stand up, but yelled from the pain in his leg and had to kneel back down. "Damn it…" Jack took a Stimpak from his pack and stuck it in his leg, gritting his teeth as he injected the healing fluid into his wound. In a matter of seconds, it started to heal and Jack was able to stand up and walk over to his loyal dog. Tycho followed suit, injecting a Stimpak into his wounded arm and stood by Jack and Dogmeat.

"Is he breathing?" Tycho asked.

"Yeah…he is." Jack said, relieved. Dogmeat let out a whimper. "It's alright, boy. It'll only sting for a second." He got out another Stimpak and injected it into Dogmeat. For a few seconds, nothing happened at all. "Shit…Did it work?" After about a minute, Dogmeat shakily stood up, wagging his tail weakly and licking Jack's face. "Aha! Good boy!"

"Well shit, we all made it out alive. I was worried we wouldn't for a minute there." Ian said, reloading his pistol and putting it away.

"Yeah, that was hairy at the end there. Speaking of which, just what the Hell was that thing Harry used against me? It burned like Hell." Jack asked, walking over to the strange weapon.

"You've really never seen a Laser Rifle before?" Tycho asked, picking up his dropped shotgun. "They're pretty powerful."

"No, we only had normal guns in our Vault." Jack commented as he picked up his Hunting Rifle and strapped it on his back. "Well, can't let this go to waste." He said as he picked up the Laser Rifle strapped on his back. "Alright, now where's that water pump…?"

"Probably in that building most of the Mutants were in." Ian said as he went into the shack, Tycho and Jack on his tail as Dogmeat slowly followed them.

What the group didn't notice was a man clad in a purple robe with yellow stripes. He was watching them from behind a nearby house, frowning. "It isn't safe for me here…Gotta go report this…" He muttered as he made his way out of Necropolis.

The quartet stepped over the bodies of mutants and made their way to the back of the building, where there was a beat-up looking machine. "Well, this must be it." Tycho said. He pointed to a hole in the machine where it looked like something was ripped out. "That's probably where that part of yours goes."

"Well, I'll try it and see if it works. Maybe you guys should go see if there are any supplies we can take back with us." Jack said as he got the machine part out of his pack and approached the water pump.

"Good idea. We'll be back in a bit." Ian said as he and Tycho walked back where they came from, while Dogmeat curled up on the floor next to his master as he got to work.

After about twenty minutes, Ian and Tycho came back. "Found some food and water around here, and some ammo too." Tycho said, tossing a bag of supplies next to Jack. "How's the machine going?"

Jack was fiddling inside the machine, and said nothing for a few seconds before standing up. "I think I may have it done." He pressed a machine on the side and the water pump made a gurgling, shuddering noise. After a few seconds it started to hum smoothly. "Holy shit! It's working!" Jack exclaimed, causing Dogmeat to wake up from his nap and wag his tail lightly. "Now we can get the Water Chip!"

"Did you say Water Chip?" A raspy voice rang out. The three men jumped a bit and pulled out their guns as they turned and saw a Ghoul in a cell door in a dark part of the room. "Ah! Don't shoot!"

"Jeez…I didn't even see you there." Jack said, putting his Hunting Rifle away. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

The Ghoul shrugged, his bones audibly creaking. "I didn't want to distract you."

"Uh…Right. So, what are you doing in there?" Tycho asked, putting his shotgun away as Ian did the same with his pistol.

"I took some water. Just a cupful, I swear! Just enough to keep me alive. Please, you gotta get me out of here!" The Ghoul pleaded, gripping the bars of his jail door. "I'll tell you where the Water Chip is if you do!"

"Why would you tell us where it is so easily?" Ian asked.

"Well, the pump is working so we don't need it anymore. Besides, I'm probably gonna get out of his place soon anyway." The Ghoul responded.

Jack looked at the two men, who shrugged, then turned back to the Ghoul. "Alright then, I guess that's fair. Stand back." He approached the cell and gout out his 10mm Pistol as the Ghoul pressed against the back wall. Jack aimed the gun at the lock and pulled the trigger, blasting the lock clean off the door, which swung open in the breeze. "There you go, now where's that Water Chip?" Jack asked.

The Ghoul gave a small smile and pointed to the cell next to him, which had an open manhole with a ladder going down. "It's down there, in the Vault."

"Wait, there's a Vault under this town?" Jack asked. That's odd, Jacoren never mentioned this Vault.

The Ghoul nodded. "Yes sir, Vault 12. Now, I gotta warn you. There's some Glowing Ones down there. They hate normies enough to attack on site, so be careful. Though, they have no weapons last I checked and you guys killed all those Mutants, so you should be fine."

Glowing Ones? What, another type of Mutant? "I…see. Well, thanks for the help." Jack said. The Ghoul just nodded and shambled away as the quartet approached the manhole. "We're so close…just a bit further." Jack muttered.

He stepped aside to let Tycho and Ian go first. As they went, he grabbed the bag of supplies they got him and picked Dogmeat up carefully, taking him underground with them. They exited into a hallway where two glowing creatures were standing. They looked just like Ghouls, except they gave off a sickly green glow. One of them pointed at the quartet as Jack put Dogmeat down. "Humans! Don't let them into the Vault!" It screeched as the two sprinted at the group. Ian wasted no time in pulling out his pistol and quickly dispatching of the two creatures, killing them with headshots.

"I…guess these must be the Glowing Ones." Jack commented. "Let's hope there aren't too many more of them around."

Jack got out his Hunting Rifle as the group went down the hall and came across an opening in the cave wall. It was a Vault alright, just like Vaults 13 and 15. "Well damn! First time I ever saw one of these!" Tycho commented as the group entered the Vault. The door was completely gone for some reason, no bits of it remained. The inside was rotting and in poor shape, it must have been open for decades.

The group made their way through the Vault, killing any Glowing Ones that attacked them, which was every one that saw them. They eventually reached a computer on the bottom floor where four Glowing Ones were standing guard, which were quickly taken care of. "This is it…" Jack said. "This is where the Water Chip must be." He typed some commands into the computer, not noticing Ian slipping into a nearby room, seeming to have seen something. Green words appeared on the screen "Water Chip Status: Operational". "Yes! YES!" Jack typed in some more commands and a small hatch opened in the computer. Out of it came a small chip, about the size of Jack's thumb. He carefully picked it up and took a similarly sized case from his Vault pocket and placed the chip inside. "I can't believe it…I finally have it…" He had walked so far, and gone through so many trials, but the chip was finally his.

"Well damn! Congratulations, Jack!" Tycho said, slapping his comrade on the back in a friendly manner. "I knew we'd find one eventually!"

Before things got too happy, Ian called in the group from the other room. "Hey! Guys! I found something…disturbing in here."

Jack, Tycho, and Dogmeat entered the room Ian was in, with Jack slipping the case in his pocket. The room had a round table and a computer in the wall; it looked like Jacoren's office. Ian was staring at the computer, which had a message written on it. "What is it, Ian?" Jack asked.

"I was curious to see what sort of stuff was written on these computers and found…well, just look for yourself." Ian replied.

Ian stepped aside and let Jack get in front of the monitor. There was a short message on it, which Jack read out loud. "To the Overseer of Vault 12: When the alarms sound, make sure to completely seal this room, and don't let anyone in under any circumstances. The front door of the Vault will not close properly as intended, so the studies of radiation on humans can be studied. You are not to tell anyone, or let anyone into this office until we say to. There is a hidden passage under your desk leading to clean food and water. We will send you another message in one week giving further instructions. From, Vault-Tec."

The three men were silent for a full minute, soaking in the information. "What…What the Hell is that about?" Tycho asked.

Jack shook his head. "What the fuck is going on here…?"


	6. The Brotherhood of Steel

Jack, Ian, and Tycho stood in silence. The message they read in Vault 12 was…disturbing to say the very least. The silence was broken by Jack. "This…What does this mean? This has to be some sort of mistake or something…" He didn't want to believe this, that the very group that made his Vault would rig another Vault's door to not shut so radiation could leak in. Why would they do something like that? What could they possible gain from it? Did Jacoren know about this? Was there a similar test going on in Vault 13 that Jack was unaware of? He turned to Ian. "Are there any other messages? Anything that gives us more information on what's going on?"

"I tried that." Ian replied, and pressing a few keys. The screen changed and showed a list of messages, one titled "Beginning Instructions" while the rest were titled "[CLASSIFIED]". Ian tried opening the classified messages, but all that came up was a password screen with "THREE TRIES REMAINING." at the bottom of the screen. "This is what happens with all of these classified messages. I'm assuming if we guess and get the password wrong, we'll get locked out or something. There's nothing we can do."

Jack really wanted to try anyway, anything to get some sort of answer, but he knew it was pointless. Dogmeat sensed his master's distress and licked his hand softly, causing Jack to scratch behind one of Dogmeat's ears. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. The chances of us guessing the password on any of these messages is too small to bother with. I just wish there was some way we could get some answers."

Tycho hesitated for a moment, then made up his mind and cleared his throat to get the attention of Jack and Ian. "Well, there is one way we might be able to find something else, but I'm not positive it'd work."

Jack turned to Tycho, looking shocked. Could there really be a place out there where Jack's questions could be answered? "What is it, Tycho? Another Vault or something?"

Tycho shook his head. "Well…have either of you heard of The Brotherhood of Steel?" He asked, not sounding very confident.

Ian immediately snorted in disgust and crossed his arms. "Those guys? You really think that, even if they had any sort of information on this, that they'd give it to outsiders like us? Most of what I hear about them isn't good at all."

Jack shook head, seeming confused. "Wait, hold on a second. Who are these Brotherhood guys? Some sort of group?"

Tycho nodded. "Yeah, a group of folks with very advanced technology. Very secretive and secluded. Though rumor is they have been around since before the War, so if anyone would know about this disturbing message we found; it'd be them."

Jack thought to himself for a moment. "They're secluded, huh? Are they hostile or…?"

Ian piped up before Tycho could answer. "From what I hear, no. They just turn away anyone outside their group and I've never heard of anyone actually entering their bunker."

"They have a bunker? Do either of you know where it is?" Jack asked. He didn't want to get his hopes up, but at the moment he was desperate for answers.

"Give me that machine of yours." Tycho said, grabbing Jack's Pip-Boy arm. He fiddled with the map, and eventually marked a spot on it. "Rumor has it that they're right around here somewhere."

Jack looked down at the map, the marker was a bit northwest of Junktown, a couple of days, a week at most, out of their way. "Well…If you guys are willing to come with me, I want to check it out."

Tycho chuckled. "You don't have to keep saying stuff like that, Jack. I wouldn't have mentioned it if I wouldn't go with you. And to be honest, I've been curious about them myself."

Jack smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Tycho." He turned to a grumpy looking Ian. "What about you, Ian? You in?"

Ian sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I'll come. Though I'll say this now; there's pretty much no chance of these guys helping us out."

"Well, it's worth a shot in the end." Jack said with a shrug. "If they don't help us I'll just have to give up on finding out what this means." Though he sounded casual about it, Jack didn't know what he'd do without this information.

With that, the group left the sewers, and made their way out of Necropolis. They stopped at The Hub first to get some food and water. After that, the four made their way to the location Tycho marked on Jack's map. The entire trip was mostly quiet…aside from Ian grumbling about how the Brotherhood would never help them in a million years.

A little over a week since they left Necropolis, the four came across a small metal building in the middle of the Wasteland. As they got closer, they saw that there were two metal statues of men in metal armor wielding miniguns. Jack looked at his Pip-Boy. "This seems to be the place. I guess they live in a bunker or something." Jack commented. He nodded at the door, on which was a symbol of a winged sword in front of several gears. "Let's see if we can't get in."

As the group got close, one of the statues suddenly moved, the one on the group's right, which aimed its minigun at the quartet. "Stop." It said, apparently not a statue at all. There was a man in that robotic suit! His voice slightly distorted, coming out like a speaker. "Outsiders are forbidden to enter. Turn back."

"We really need to get in there." Jack said. "We need information about the Vaults. Is there any way we can gain access?"

The two armored men looked at each other, and the one to the group's left put his weapon down and took off his helmet. Underneath was a normal looking guy in a sort of skin-tight hood. "Well, there…th-there is one way…" The man said, not sounding very confident. "There's uh…some old ruins to the south, we call it The Glow. The Elder said if…if anyone can go there and get some tech that proved they were….were there that they could uh…join."

Get something from some ruins? That sounded easy. Too easy. Jack narrowed his eyes at the guard. "That seems like a pretty simple mission. What's the catch?"

The guard cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head nervously. Why was this guy so fidgety? It was making Jack almost second-hand nervous. "The thing is uh…these ruins are highly radioactive. Lethally so. But…But that's the only way to gain membership to the Brotherhood. It's you-your choice."

Jack sighed to himself. What was he going to do? He couldn't put his friends at risk like that. "I'll go. I'll go alone." He said.

"Wait, what?!" Tycho exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?" Ian asked. "Why would you go somewhere like that by yourself? What about your Vault?"

"It's not fair to ask you guys to come along with me on this. And here." He gave the case with the Water Chip inside it to Ian. "If I don't come back, you can deliver that to the Vault for me."

Ian and Tycho exchanged glances while Dogmeat sat on the ground with his ears drooping. "Are you sure about this?" Tycho asked.

"I'm sure. I have to do this alone. You guys can wait in The Hub if you want. I'll tell you where the Vault is on the way there." Jack said.

The Brotherhood guard cleared his throat. The group almost forgot he was there. "That's uh…all well and good. Now, if you have a map, please show it to…to me so I can mark the location on it."

Jack approached the guard, bringing up the map screen on his Pip-Boy. "Here."

"Oh, a Pip-Boy! What…What a beaut. This will just take a second…" The guard tapped at the screen a few times, and the Pip-Boy made a beeping noise. "There."

Jack looked down at the map. The location the guard marked was far, far away. Days to the south of Necropolis. "Oh, wow…That's quite a trip. We'll have to stop for food when we get to The Hub." He commented. Jack nodded at the guard. "We'll be back as soon as we can."

With that, Jack turned and started walking east, with Dogmeat following behind. Ian and Tycho glanced at each other in concern, but followed. As each day went by, the two of them would try and convince Jack to let them come, but he wouldn't hear of it. Along the way, Jack told the two the location of Vault 13 in great detail, in case he didn't make it. Eventually, the group made it back to The Hub. The three humans spent some time shopping for food and supplies, getting Jack some Rad-X and RadAway for the journey. "You really don't want us coming?" Tycho asked. The group was at the southeastern edge of The Hub. Dogmeat sat between Ian and Tycho, his head bowed low in distress.

Jack sighed, making sure he had everything he needed in his pack. "It isn't fair for me to drag you guys along to a dangerous place like that just so I can maybe find some information on the Vaults and what we found in Vault 12." He patted Dogmeat's head, with the canine whining softly. "If I'm not back in three weeks, assume I'm dead. Is that alright?"

Ian sighed and nodded. "I don't like this, but you're not giving us much choice. Fine, if three weeks pass and you're not back, we'll deliver the Water Chip for you."

With a thank you and some good-byes, Jack turned to the southeast and made his way to The Glow. The trip was, as most trips through the Wasteland had been so far, rather uneventful. Jack couldn't help but feel uncomfortable as he traveled, it had been the first time in a while that he was all alone in the wastes, and he had forgotten how lonely it was. After a few days, he slowly started to get used to the deafening silence again. After about a week and a half, Jack saw that he was getting close, and he could feel it too. As in, he could literally feel it. As he approached his destination, the air started to feel hotter, and Jack started to feel sick as the radiation in the air seeped into his body. Then…he saw it; The Glow. It was nothing more than a large hole in the ground, surrounded by jagged metal of an old building now reduced to nothing. Whatever Jack was looking for had to be in that hole. He took a few Rad-X to, as Tycho told him, make him a bit more resistant to radiation. When Jack reached the edge of The Glow, it felt like invisible fires were licking his body and the Rad-X was only barely helping, but he had to do this. He had to try.

"Alright…here we go." Jack said to himself as he got a rope out of his pack and tied it to the sturdiest piece of metal he could find, throwing the rest down the hole. He shined his Pip-Boy flashlight down to make sure the rope reached some sort of solid surface, which it did. What Jack could see was a ruined metal bunker with scorch marks and parts of the floor that looked worn, though it still seemed sturdy enough to hold his weight. Taking a deep breath, Jack grabbed hold of the rope and started to make his way down. The air got hotter and more painful as he went down, but Jack gritted his teeth and continued his descent until he reached solid ground. Jack looked and saw he was in a hallway with doors on either side. Down the hall was a huge hole in the floor, leading further into the complex.

Jack started to look through the rooms, fighting against the burning air beating down on him. There was nothing of interest in any of the rooms Jack looked in aside from busted old computers and melted metal. Jack took another Rad-X after about fifteen minutes of searching. He couldn't stay much longer; he already felt his vision blurring. As Jack went further through the first floor, he saw something large and grey on the floor. As he got closer, he realized that it was a dead Brotherhood member in their metal armor. Could this be what he was sent here for? Maybe this deceased person picked up something of use? Jack decided he should at least try, as the radiation was starting to really get to him. He popped in another Rad-X as he started digging through the corpse. He quickly found a very old-looking Holodisk. He looked on it and saw it was made in 2077 from a small bit of writing on the front. Wasn't that when the War happened? It was 2162 now, would this tape even work after spending so long in a place like this? Jack decided this was good enough, seeing as he found it on a dead Brotherhood member. That, and he couldn't last much longer. His sight was really getting blurry and he was getting weaker by the second. He was surprised he managed to get out of that damned hole.

Jack put the Holodisk into his pack and rushed back to the rope and started to climb. It felt like lead weights were tied to his limbs and torso as he climbed; and it was so difficult he feared he wouldn't make it. He put all of his strength into the last few feet and managed to crawl out of the hole and onto solid ground. He sat there, panting, struggling to get up and away from this invisible fire all around him. He popped his last Rad-X and managed to get up, stumbling away from The Glow as his vision began to distort to the point where he could barely tell the ground from the horizon. Soon, he managed to get out of the radiation and collapsed, puking on the ground while lying in a heap. He fished into his pack for some RadAway, which, according to Ian and Tycho, would help get rid of the radiation. He got out a bag and stuck the needle in his arm and lied on the ground as the RadAway automatically pumped into his arm. It felt like pure ice was entering his blood stream, but it really felt nice as every cell in his body felt like it was on fire just moments ago. Before he knew it, Jack passed out.

It was night when Jack woke up. He felt…better than before, but at the same time he felt another wave of nausea creeping up on him. He sat up and looked at his Pip-Boy, his limbs no longer feeling like they were being dragged down by lead. He had been asleep for nearly ten hours! Wow, that trip really exhausted him! He looked and saw that the RadAway was empty. He removed the needle and left the bag on the ground as he stood up and made his way towards The Hub. He was still feeling like shit, but he had to get back there as fast as he could. "Don't worry guys…I'm on my way…" He muttered as he got out another bag of RadAway…

A week later, Jack was feeling a lot better. Still weaker than usual, and he had to stop and throw up several times on the trip, but he was finally nearing The Hub. He was all out of RadAway, but at this point he didn't think he'd need it. He hoped the Holodisk was enough to get into the bunker, there's no way he was going to try that again. He was approaching the border of The Hub when he saw them…Ian, Tycho, and Dogmeat waiting there for him. Jack gave a wave and Dogmeat sprinted at him, barking wildly and tackling the weakened man to the ground, licking his face all over. "We knew you'd be back." Tycho said, chuckling at the scene before them as he and Ian approached Jack and Dogmeat.

"For a time, I didn't think I would." Jack replied after he gently pushed the ecstatic Dogmeat off of him. "I just hope what I found will be enough." Jack rooted around in his bag and pulled out the Holodisk he found.

"Well, what's on it?" Ian asked.

"I don't know; I haven't listened to it yet." Jack replied. He popped the disk into his Pip-Boy, which quickly loaded the disk up, and audio blared out, spoken by a male adult.

" _Capt. Maxson was right. This place is death. I'm writing this so that if we don't make it back, someone, some day, might find out what happened to us._

 _We made it to West Tek Research Facility after twenty days of hell. But that was the easy part. The radiation levels began to shoot up as soon as we could see the giant crater. We checked our supplies and figured with our armor and our anti-rad supplies we'd be fine for at least a day of exploring. We felt it was a calculated risk, but the technology we had the potential of recovering was worth it._

 _We climbed down the crater to the first level and everything seemed to be according to plan. The power was off, so we didn't need to circumvent the security. Or so we thought. There wasn't much of value on this level, so we pushed on._

 _The second level was more of the same._

 _When Jensen dropped to the third level, all hell broke loose. The security sensors had been burned out on the first two levels, but not on the third. Jensen was cut to ribbons before he knew what had happened. We'd never seen weapons cut through power armor like that. Men started dropping right and left, and the ones who were still alive lost it. I tried to regroup, but only Soto and Camarillo made it back up here to the first level with me._

 _The fact that I can smell Soto's burning flesh where his arm was taken off means that my power armor is no longer air tight, so I'm sucking up a lot more rads than I had planned on. I'm leaking hydraulics at an alarming rate. We need to get far enough away from this place before my armor dies._

 _Camarillo seemed fine physically, but he wandered off about an hour ago, mumbling something about Gehenna. That bastard has all the anti-rad._

 _That leaves Soto and myself. We can't make it far enough away from here without the anti-rads, so I've got to try to find Camarillo before it's too late._

 _Sgt. D. Allen, United States Armed Forces._ "

After the tape ended, the three man stared at the Pip-Boy. Just what was that? United States Armed Forces? West Tek Research Facility? Security traps? "Where did you find this, again?" Tycho asked.

"I found it on a dead Brotherhood member." Jack replied. He paused a second, gathering his thoughts. "I think…Tycho, you said there were rumors the Brotherhood was around before the War, right?" The gassed man nodded, prompting Jack to take the Holodisk out of his Pip-Boy.

"I did, yeah. This seems like it confirms it." Tycho responded. "Well, it looks like your mission was successful. Ready to head back?"

Jack shook his head. "Not…Not right this second. I need to just rest for a bit."

Before Ian or Tycho could respond, a familiar voice rang out. A raspy, decaying voice. "Well, well, didn't think I'd be seein' ya 'round here again." The three men turned to see Harold shambling towards them. "Take it ya either killed that there Deathclaw or ya just ran."

As Harold got too close, Dogmeat became alert and started to growl lightly. Jack lightly tapped him on the snout to get him to stop, then looked up at the mutant. "Hey Harold. We managed to kill that thing, actually. It wasn't easy, that's for sure."

Ian gazed over at Harold, trying not to show he was repulsed by the misshapen man's smell. "It turned out it wasn't even the Deathclaw. Some huge, muscley mutant was taking out the caravans."

Harold let out a strangled gasp, sounding like someone having their throat stepped on. "Large, musclebound mutants?!"

"Yeah. We even took care of a few in Necropolis." Tycho added. "They're really tough, but not too bright…"

Harold stared at the group, as if he had seen a ghost. "I…I know those mutants…They're the ones from the northwest…"

The three men's faces all paled slightly. "You…You mean from the story you told us. There's a factory pumping out those giants?!" Jack asked.

Harold nodded slowly. "The very same. If…If that factory has been makin' mutants all these years…There must be an army of 'em by now…"

Everyone was silent for a moment. After it passed, Jack stood up, though he struggled to do so. "Well, we'll have to do something about it, won't we?"

Harold seemed startled at this. "Wh…What was that, youngster?" He asked, as if he didn't hear what Jack had said quite right.

"We can't just let this "Master" guy keep making these things, can we? We'll have to stop him and his army of mutants!" Jack responded. "I dunno how we can right this moment, but there has to be some way, right?" He directed the last sentence to Ian and Tycho.

Tycho let out a light chuckle. "A bit optimistic, aren't ya? But you're right, we'll have to do something."

"We're gonna need some help with this, that's for sure." Ian added.

Jack smiled lightly. "Then it's settled. Forget my rest, we have to get this tape back to the Brotherhood. Surely they'll help us if they're aware of the danger." He said.

The three men and Dogmeat made their way to the store when Harold interjected. "Wait! Your names…what are they…?"

"The name's Jack."

"Tycho."

"Ian."

"And this here's Dogmeat." Jack finished, patting the dog on the head.

Harold nodded slowly, still seemingly stunned by the group's optimism. "I see…Well, good luck to ya, youngsters…You'll be needin' it…" With that, Harold shambled away from the group.

After buying some food and water, the trio of men and Dogmeat made their way to the Brotherhood bunker. They would sometimes need to stop and rest for Jack not feeling well and getting the last bits of radiation out of his system. They eventually made it back, a whole month after having left. By then, Jack was virtually recovered from his trip to The Glow. As they approached, the two Brotherhood members guarding the entrance looked at each other, and one took off their helmet. It was the same one as last. "H-Hey! You made it back!" He sounded like he sincerely wasn't expecting to see the group again. "Did you find anything?"

Jack approached the man, taking the Holodisk out of his pack. "Yep, sure did. I found this on a Brotherhood member I found in The Glow. Here, let me play it." He inserted the Holodisk into his Pip-Boy, replaying the message for the two Brotherhood members.

After it was done, the helmet-less Brotherhood member smiled and nodded. "That's great! That certainly fits with what we wanted, so you can go inside. I-I'll just…need the Holodisk first."

"Sure, of course." Jack said as he gave the item to the Brotherhood member. "And my companions can come in with me, right?"

The Brotherhood member nodded. "I…suppose so. Th-They can't be Brotherhood members, though. Only you since you d-did the mission."

Ian scoffed. "Like I'd want to join anyway." He muttered as Tycho nudged him with his elbow.

The Brotherhood member made a "Hmph!" sound and looked over at Ian. "I'll just choose to ignore that. Go on in before I change my mind."

The silent Brotherhood member punched in a code into a keypad next to the door, which opened to reveal an empty elevator. "Thank you, very much." Jack said as the quartet entered the elevator, which closed behind him. "Alright…guess we should go to first level…" Jack said as he pressed the corresponding button on the elevator, which smoothly started its descent.

"What do you think this place will be like?" Tycho asked. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious."

"Probably filled with a lot of fancy tech and weapons." Ian responded. "That's what the rumors usually say, at least."

"I'm hoping to be able to get one of those metal suits. One of those would be pretty helpful against these Mutants." Jack commented. Dogmeat seemed to add his own opinion with a bark, which made the men's' ears ring slightly in the compressed space.

The elevator soon came to a stop and opened to a clean, metal hallway. Before the group stood a small-ish man wearing a blue armored robe of some kind. He held a clipboard and pencil. He put on a smile as the group stepped out of the elevator. "Ah, hello! We received word a new Initiate was coming down. Which one of you was it?"

Jack stepped forward. "That would be me. Who, exactly, are you if I may ask?"

"I am Senior Scribe Roberts, outsider. Scribes are in charge of record keeping and the development of new tech." Roberts explained as he looked down at the clipboard. "Now, I just need to ask you a few questions. Just as part of initiation. You understand…"

"Of course." Jack replied. "Go ahead."

"Alright, this shouldn't take long." Roberts assured. "Okay…name?"

"Jack Washington."

"Age?"

"Twenty."

"Wait, you're only twenty?" Tycho interjected.

Jack looked back at Tycho, seeming confused. "Yeah, why?"

"Nothin'…Nothin'…" Tycho responded.

The Scribe continued to ask questions, a number of them about Jack's physical health. Before long, Roberts smiled. "There! That was it. You are now an Initiate of the Brotherhood. Now, off the record, I'm just curious as to why you joined. It's for a nifty suit of Power Armor, isn't it? Like the guards topside have?"

"Well, no, actually. Though the thought did cross my mind. I was actually hoping to find out more about the Vaults." Jack replied. He suddenly felt very nervous. What if these people knew about the Vaults and what he had read in Vault 12? What if Vault 13 had a test like this and he wasn't even aware of it?

Roberts frowned lightly and fiddled with his pencil. "Well, uh, that's a bit of a touchy subject. See, only the Head Scribe, Vree, has access to information like that. I don't know if she'd be willing to share the information with you or not."

Jack was trying to keep a straight face, trying to hide the panic in his mind. "Well, can I talk to her?"

Roberts shook his head. "Not right now, no. She and High Elder Maxson are in an important meeting. The High Elder is the head of the Brotherhood, by the way."

Jack's heart lowered. Yet, at the same time, he was somewhat relieved. He wasn't sure he was ready for the truth. "I see…Well, thank you for that information. What should I do in the meantime, then?"

Roberts turned a bit and used his pencil to point down the hallway ahead. "Paladin Talus should have some sort of mission for you. It may seem like a pain right after what you've been through, but you'll probably get some sort of goodies from doing it. He's at the very end of the hall and in the room to the right." Roberts gave a salute, pressing a closed fist to his chest. "Now, I have things I must do, Initiate. Come find another Scribe if you have other questions." And with that, he walked away.

Ian made a "tsk" sound. "What is with these cooks? Vree? Talus? What kind of names are these?"

Tycho turned to his grumpy companion. "I dunno. What kind of name is Tycho? Who cares what their names are, Ian?"

Ian muttered something quietly. Something about "not the same". Jack rolled his eyes lightly and turned to where Roberts had directed. "Well, regardless of names, I have to see what Talus may want from us. Could get something helpful out of it. Maybe even some of that Power Armor…" He sounded a bit excited with that last sentence as he started walking.

"I say if he tells us to plunder another Rads-infested Pre-War ruin that we should just shoot him in the face." Ian said.

"Alright, we get it. Ya don't like the Brotherhood." Tycho said. "Would ya stop?"

"Yeah, what if someone took you seriously and we all got in some kind of trouble?" Jack said. Ian let out a little sigh, but said nothing more. As they neared the end of the hall, Jack piped up again. "This place really reminds me of a Vault, come to think of it…"

"Maybe it is one." Tycho guessed.

"I dunno…the three other Vaults I've been in had giant gear-shaped doors as their entrances. This place just had an elevator." Jack said. He paused for a moment. "Though, I suppose some Vaults might not have had those. We could always ask Vree…"

After passing by another Brotherhood member at the end of the hallway with a brief greeting, the three went into the door Roberts pointed out for them. Inside was an exercise room, with a number of Brotherhood members on treadmills and lifting weights. There was only a single member wearing Power Armor, which the group assumed that he was the Paladin, so they approached him. Dogmeat, meanwhile, seemed to be entranced by the many smells of exercising people, as he sat by the entrance with his nose high up in the air.

"Hey, are you Talus?" Tycho asked. "We were told by a Scribe named Roberts to get a job from you?"

Talus looked the group over. He seemed friendly enough; with a stern, yet non-hostile face. "I was told there was only one new Initiate coming down." He spoke the next sentence to Tycho. "Would that be you?"

Tycho shook his head and gestured at Jack. "No, no. Jack here is the new Initiate. Ian and I are just his companions."

Talus turned to Jack and did the same salute Roberts did earlier. "I see! Welcome, Initiate!"

"Ah, thanks. So, I was wondering what-" Jack started, but was quickly cut off by Talus.

"Initiate! When I salute, you salute back! And I expect the last word out of your mouth to be 'Paladin'! Do you understand?" Talus snapped, making Jack jump a little. "Did Roberts tell you nothing about the etiquette we have down here?"

Jack hastily did the salute back. "Oh! Sorry! I was not informed of that, Paladin." He responded. Ian scowled lightly at Talus, who seemed to either not notice or just chose to ignore it.

The Paladin let out a small sight. "Well, since it's your first day I won't make you run ten miles, I suppose. Now, as for a job, I do have something for you. I sent one of our Initiates out to the Hub a short while back and we haven't heard back from him. I want you to go down there and find out what's going on."

Well, certainly sounded easier than going into a hell-hole of a location. Jack did another salute, just to be safe. "Understood! Is there any suspicion of what may have happened to him, Paladin?"

Talus nodded. "He was sent there to investigate a supposed crime lord, Decker. You should start with investigating him yourself. Before you go, Initiate, you should take some equipment. Stay here." Talus proceeded to leave the room, leaving the three men and Dogmeat waiting.

"Man, kind of uppity, isn't he?" Tycho noted. "Didn't expect him to explode like that."

"Oh, so only you can mock the Brotherhood?" Ian asked, which got only a small sigh from Tycho.

"To be fair, I should have asked Roberts about things like that." Jack interjected. "It was mostly my fault."

Right after Jack said that, Talus game in…with a Rocket Launcher in his hands. "Initiate. Decker has been known as a dangerous force, so take this launcher and some rockets with you."

Talus then casually dropped the launcher in front of Jack's then outstretched hands. Jack braced for impact…but it wasn't that bad. The Rocket Launcher wasn't as heavy as it looked. Maybe fifteen pounds at the most. He always imagined one of these would be a lot heavier. "Whoah! Uh…thank you, Paladin. Isn't this a bit…much, though?"

Talus gave Jack a stern look. "Are you questioning me, Initiate? The Initiate you're looking for, Jonathan, was born and trained here, yet he got captured. You're going to need as much help as you can get if you're going to save him. Do I make myself clear, Initiate?"

Jack placed the Rocket Launcher on the ground and gave a salute. "Crystal, Paladin! I won't let you down!"

"Good. Now, take these." Talus said as he opened a small, hidden compartment in his Power Armor. Inside were several rockets, of which he took three out and handed over to Jack. As Jack put the new ammo into his pack, Talus continued. "That should be more than enough." He saluted Jack. "You are dismissed, Initiate. Good luck!"

Jack saluted…again. "Thank you, Paladin!" With that, he picked up the Rocket Launcher and the quartet made their way to the elevator in silence. As they rode up, Jack piped up. "So, how the heck are we going to figure out where they're keeping this guy?"

"We should ask and look around Old Town. The poor folk there tend to know the scoop on hidden things in The Hub. Just gotta know who to ask." Ian said. "May have to bribe one, though. It shouldn't be too hard."

"I've been hearing about this Decker fella for a while now. It'd be nice to take him down, like with Gizmo." Tycho added. "Even if the Initiate isn't with him, his testimony should be enough for the guards to help us storm his bar and base of operations, The Maltese Falcon."

"Alright, that sounds like a plan." Jack awkwardly adjusted the Rocket Launcher in his hands. It wasn't too heavy, but its size made it a pain to carry. "…Mind if we take turns carrying this thing to The Hub?"

…

It did not take long for the group to get the information they wanted. After arriving at The Hub and heading into Old Town, the three men split up (with Dogmeat staying by Jack's side) and asking around the drug-addicts wandering around. Less than an hour of investigating and the trio were told more than once of a specific house. A month or so ago, some burly men dragged a beaten man into the house, with none of these men having ever been seen leaving. So, the men and Dogmeat stood before a run-down little house. Probably only had three rooms, if that.

"So…this is it, huh?" Ian asked. "All the folks who knew what we were talking about pointed here."

"There's only one way to find out…" Tycho said. "I'm gonna take a peek through one of the windows, see if anything seems suspicious." He crouched to the ground in a sneaking position and went to the side of the house, where the windows were. After about a minute, he snuck back. "There's some big, though lookin' thugs in there. Not talkin' or anything. Just standing around. One of them seems to be guarding a door to another room, one with no windows."

"There has to be a way to make sure…I won't risk killing someone innocent." Jack said. "What else could we do…?"

The men were silent for a moment, but then Ian spoke up, talking quietly. "Well, I could just…walk into the door. If they start shooting at me or something, we can at least kill them in self-defense."

There was a pause. "I don't know how just that is. And I don't know about you risking your life like that…" Jack replied. If one of his friends got killed like that, he didn't know what he'd do…

"Bah, don't worry about me. We said the same thing about you going to The Glow, yet you did it anyway. You owe me a stupid, life-risking move." Ian pointed out, a playful smirk plastered on his face.

Jack let out a light chuckle. "I guess that somewhat makes sense." He turned to Tycho. "What do you think?"

"Yeah, let's do it. Might want to make use of that Rocket Launcher. There's nobody else near the house but us." Tycho replied. "I'm ready when you guys are."

"Alright, let's do it!" Jack said, loading up the Rocket Launcher.

Jack, Tycho, and Dogmeat made their way to one of the house windows while Ian readied himself at the door. After preparing himself to quickly dodge to the side, Ian opened the door. "Hey, is this place-"

Ian barely started talking when the four thugs inside the house drew their various weapons (two revolvers, a combat shotgun, and a 10mm pistol) and all started to fire on him. Ian managed to dodge before getting killed, but one of the revolver shots went right through his leg, eliciting a noise of pain from him. "Shit!" Jack exclaimed, without thinking. He aimed the Rocket Launcher at the two revolver-users, who were at the other side of the house from Jack and his two companions, and fired the rocket.

Not the best plan. What resulted was a blinding flash, a deafening explosion, and shot up rocks and dust everywhere. Jack's group and the surviving thugs started to cough and try to get dust from their eyes, except for Tycho who was protected by his gas mask. Dogmeat yelped and pawed at his face, trying to get his eyes clean. The wall opposite of Jack, Tycho, and Dogmeat was reduced to rubble, and bits of the revolver-wielding guards were all over the place. Tycho took this opportunity to shoot the pistol-wielder with his shotgun, killing the thug in an instant. He tried to fire at the last thug with the combat shotgun, but he ducked behind the ruined wall before Tycho could pull the trigger. "Dammit…" He patted at Jack's shoulder to get his attention. "Hey! We got one more to deal with!"

Jack managed to recover from the blast of dust, dropping the cumbersome Rocket Launcher. "Where did he go?" He looked around a bit. "And what about Ian? Is he okay?!"

"I'm fine! Don't worry about me!" Ian shouted from around the corner. "Just get that son of a bitch!"

While this was going on, the last thug snuck around the back of the building and peered around the corner at Jack, Tycho, and Dogmeat. The latter of the three finally getting his eyes cleared out. "You meddling motherfuckers!" The thug yelled as he leapt from the corner, combat shotgun aimed at the trio. A single shot rang out…and the thug fell down, a hole between his eyes.

Tycho looked over at Jack, who had turned to look at Tycho; neither of them having fired the shot. "Who was that?" Jack asked. He looked around a bit. "Ian, was that you?"

Ian limped around the corner, blood running down his leg. "What? That wasn't one of you guys?"

"Who the hell shot that guy, then?" Tycho remarked. There was no one else nearby with a gun. The only people the group saw were scared citizens of Old Town murmuring amongst each other and watching the scene unfold.

"It was me." A deep voice rang out. Around the corner came a man wearing a trench coat and matching hat. In his hand was a smoking .44 revolver. The man had dark skin, and none of the members of Jack's group could really see his face. "Just lendin' a helpin' hand." He said, putting his weapon away. With that, the man turned and walked away, leaving a stunned quartet.

"Did…Did you know that guy?" Jack asked Tycho and Ian.

"No…Who was that Mysterious Stranger?" Ian questioned as he stuck a Stimpak in his leg.

Before the group could theorize, a harsh voice shouted from behind them. "What the fuck is going on around here?!"

The group turned and saw Deputy Fry and about five guards approaching, shotguns out and pointed at the group. "Deputy Fry? This…Isn't what it looks like, we swear!" Tycho said, dropping his own weapon and raising his hands in a small attempt to show he meant no harm.

"You'd better start explaining, and fast!" One of the guards said, pointing the gun at the group directly. Dogmeat started to growl and bare his teeth at Deputy Fry and his group, but Jack held him back before he could do anything.

"It's a misunderstanding! These guys are with Decker, we're sure of it!" Jack piped up. "In the house, there should be someone behind the closed door; a prisoner!"

Deputy Fry turned to the closest of his guards. "Go check it out, Kenny."

"Roger, Deputy." The guard, Kenny, replied. He put his shotgun away and went into the house. The sound of a doorknob rattling was heard, then an impact and wood breaking. A pause. "They're right! There's a guy in here! He's beat up, really bad!" Kenny yelled.

There were some groans of pain from a second male, then some footsteps, with long pauses between. Soon enough, Kenny rounded corner to the group and guards, helping an injured man along. The man seemed as if he hadn't had a proper night's sleep or a full meal in weeks, and had cuts and bruises all over his face. "What…What's going on? Why did the…house blow up?" The man asked.

Deputy Fry and his guards lowered their weapons. Fry went over to the man. "Who are you? What happened to you?"

"J-Jonathan…It was Decker…He and his men trapped me in there." Jonathan replied. "Do…any of you have a spare Stimpak?"

Deputy Fry took a Stimpak out from his pack and injected it into the Brotherhood Initiate's chest. "There we go…" He sighed. "Now, are you sure this was Decker?"

"I'm positive. He personally came into that house in secret to torture me." Jonathan said. "Trying to get information from me. Kind that would put my…family in trouble."

Deputy Fry seemed to somewhat perk up at this. "Well…it looks like we have the proof we need. It's time to finally take this fucker down!" He shouted, getting some cheers from his guards, and a few of the townsfolk crowding around and watching. Deputy Fry turned to Jack and his group. "We, uh…We apologize for pointing our guns and you and all that."

Jack waved his hand as he stood up to dust himself off. "It's no big deal. I don't blame you; after all I did blow up half a house."

"It's fine with me if I get to keep this." Tycho said half-jokingly as he picked up the combat shotgun from the last fallen thug.

"Sure, of course! Keep as much of their loot as you want." Deputy Fry said. "Now, we're gonna storm Decker's bar. If you wanna join us, feel free to." Deputy Fry then gathered his guards around and started talking plans.

As this happened, Jonathan went over to the group. Thanks to the Stimpak, his walking was already getting steadier and the wounds on his face were starting to fade. "I take it you guys had a hand in saving me. I'd like to thank you, but I gotta know; who are you guys, and how did you know where I was?"

Jack glanced over at the guards, and the crowd of people that were dispersing. He leaned in and said quietly. "I'm a new Initiate with the Brotherhood; Paladin Talus sent me."

At that, Jonathan's eyes lit up. "I knew they'd send someone to get me soon." He looked at Ian, Tycho, and Dogmeat.

"Are you going to be okay? Can you make it back to the bunker on your own?" Jack asked.

"I'll be fine once I get some food in me." Johnathan said as he started picking through the fallen guards for their loot. "I'll be able to get a lot of it with what these guys have. What are you four gonna do?"

"I was thinking of joining Deputy Fry with Decker." Jack said. "If my companions are up for it, of course."

"Oh yeah, count me in." Tycho said, holding onto his new shotgun. "Need a chance to test this bad boy out."

Ian just nodded, taking out his pistol. Jack then turned to Jonathan. "I guess we'll meet you back at the bunker, then." He held out a hand, with Jonathan shook. With that, the main group made their way to Decker's bar, where Deputy Fry and his guards, of which there were three, all with shotguns, were waiting outside.

"Alright, fellas." Deputy Fry said to his men and Jack's group. "The plan is simple. We go in, and anyone that draws a gun on us gets shot, alright?" He said this somewhat quietly, not wanting those inside the bar to hear. Everyone nodded, weapons drawn, Deputy Fry having an intimidating AK-112 assault rifle. "Alright, go!" Deputy Fry kicked the door open, barging inside. The inside of the bar was actually kind of clean, with a well-maintained counter, and even some roulette tables and slot machines. There were a number of people gambling, all jumping in surprise at Deputy Fry's entrance. "Alright, we're here for Decker! Innocents, stay by the gambling tables, and you won't get hurt! If you draw a gun, we WILL-"

Deputy Fry was interrupted as a bullet whizzed by his head. He turned to see an intimidating man, guarding a door and holding a 10mm pistol. "This is your only warning, Fry! If you don't leave, I'll-"

This time the man got interrupted, as Deputy Fry fired his rifle at the man, riddling him with holes and killing him in about a second flat. "Alright everyone, through that door!" The group all went through the door and down some stairs into a dingy basement. The thugs downstairs had their weapons drawn, but they were simply outnumbered. They were massacred in a hail of bullets, the only injury from Deputy Fry's or Jack's groups is one of the Hub guards got a bullet in the shoulder.

"Is that it, did we kill Decker?" Jack asked. He hadn't realized this was going to be so easy, honestly. These guys must have really wanted to take this guy down.

Checking the bodies, Deputy Fry shook his head. "No, I've met Decker before, none of these are him. He must be through here…" He said, gesturing to a door at the end of a hallway. Everyone made their way to the door, with Deputy Fry kicking it open.

On the other side was a well-lit room. There was a desk with an imposing man on the other side, sitting and smiling as if welcoming guests. He seemed eerily calm, despite having to have heard what happened to all of his subordinates. "Ah, Deputy Fry…To what do I owe all of this ruckus?" The man asked, his voice breathy and raspy at the same time.

"We found a beaten man in that abandoned house you own, Decker." Deputy Fry retaliated, pointing his rifle at the man. "You're coming with us, we have you now!"

Decker sighed, leaning back in his chair, almost casually. "No…I don't think so." He reached under his desk, getting a revolver out. He didn't even get to level it before Deputy Fry riddled him with bullets, like the man upstairs. Decker was dead in an instant.

The room was eerily quiet. Deputy Fry sighed. "Well, that was it. I was hoping to get some information out of him…guess we'll have to look around for clues." He turned to Jack and his group, putting his rifle away. "As for you, we thank you. You didn't have to come with us." He fished around in his pocket and took a bag of caps out, handing it over to Tycho, who was nearest to him. "Here, for your troubles."

"Oh! Well, thanks!" Tycho said, weighing the bag a bit by waving his hand up and down. There had to be…about a thousand caps in here, it was a large bag!

"Just glad we could help out." Jack said, Dogmeat barking, as if in agreement. And with that, the quartet made their way out of the basement as Deputy Fry and his men started to search the place. It was time to go back to the bunker…


	7. Vault 13

The trek back to the Brotherhood's bunker was an uneventful one. Jack couldn't help but find that a bit interesting. He had worries that the Wasteland would have every inch of it crawling with deadly creatures and radiation…yet a "Wasteland" was really all it was. A whole lot of nothing, for the most part. About halfway through the trip, Tycho asked Jack a question he was surprised he wasn't asked yet. "So, Jack, what's life like in that Vault of yours?" The three men and Dogmeat were sitting on the ground, a small fire crackling between them, the sun having set over an hour ago.

Jack leaned back, staring at the fire. The Vault…It hadn't even been a year since his journey began, yet he felt like it's been half a decade since he left. He felt nervous about going back, especially if they could talk to that Vree person. What if Vault 13 had some dangerous secret like Vault 12? He didn't know if he could move back in if that was the case! But, Tycho needed his answer. "Well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't like it more in there than out here. No offense." Ian and Tycho shrugged. They sure weren't gonna pretend the Wasteland was comfortable. "I guess what I miss most is the noise, honestly. It's so quite in the Wasteland, which I guess isn't that surprising. Aside from us talking, there's almost no noise between settlements. In the Vault, there's always noise. Machines running, lights humming, footsteps, people chatting. It was just so relaxing in a way I can't really describe." Damn did he miss home…

"Well, I can't deny that doesn't sound a lot better than being out here." Ian commented. It certainly beat being in a dry, ugly Wasteland all day, not knowing if some mutant creature is gonna appear and skewer you.

"Hey, maybe you guys can move in when this is all over." Jack said after a pause. He felt like these two were trustworthy, after all they've gone through together.

It was a few seconds before either man replied. "You really mean it, Jack?" Tycho asked. Like Ian, he certainly felt life in a Vault, while boring, at least meant a better chance of survival. And if Jack could leave, maybe he could as well to stretch his legs.

"Yeah! I don't see why not." Jack said with a shrug. "Our Overseer shouldn't have a problem with it." He didn't want to mention…that two of the citizens had gone missing recently. Two guys, Ed and Talius just up and vanished one day. No signs of where they went. No notes left behind, no _bodies_ left behind. Nothing. Every nook and cranny was searched, but no clues were found. Now that Jack thought of it…that skeleton outside of Vault 13…

His thought was interrupted by Ian speaking up. "Well damn, that's a great offer if I ever heard it. I'd be stupid not to take it." Tycho nodded in agreement. Soon after, the men and Dogmeat turned in for the night.

After a few more days, the four arrived back at the bunker, on their way to talk to Talus, who saluted upon seeing them. As Jack got close, he returned the salute. "Good job, newbie! Jonathan came back just the other day, fit as a fiddle for the most part! He already gave a full report of what happened, which luckily means you won't have to!"

Jack was certainly glad to hear that. Who knew what that poor man had gone through? "Good to hear, sir!" He took the rocket launcher off of his back. "Would you like this back? I only fired it once, Paladin."

Talus shook his head. "Keep it. You earned it. And one other thing too. Follow me." Talus went into a nearby door, the quartet following him. They entered some kind of weapon storage; the walls lined with all sorts of guns; 9mms, shotguns, assault rifles, even some weapons Jack had never seen before. Talus walked by all of those, and instead stopped in front of a man in Power Armor. He was standing statue-still, and it took Jack a moment to realize the suit was empty! "I think you've earned this, a T-51b model suit of Power Armor."

Jack's eyes widened in an almost childish wonder, like a Pre-War child getting a bicycle on Christmas morning. "Are…Are you sure? Have I really earned something like this, Paladin?"

Talus held back a chuckle. Normally, Initiates practically pounced on the damn things when they first got them, this kid was asking if he earned it! "You did two important missions for us…that and everyone who uses these bad boys already has one. Might as well let you have it so it can be used!" He walked around behind the armor, gesturing Jack to follow. "Now, the power supply is built in, using a back-mounted TX-28 MicroFusion Pack which generates an output power of 60,000 Watts to power the HiFlo hydraulic systems built into the frame of the suit."

Jack, Ian, and Tycho just stared at Talus. Even Dogmeat cocked his head to the side, as if also confused. "What does that mean, exactly?" Tycho asked.

Talus cleared his throat. "Right. Jargon. Basically, it has a built-in power source. And it lasts so long that, well, you'll never need to replace it. Power Armor may not look like it needs power, but you'll be moving at a snail's pace if it has no power." He then stood right behind the suit. "Now, to open it up, you just turn this valve here a bit counter-clockwise…" He then did just that, causing the back of the suit, the torso and limbs, to open up. "…and then you climb in. Give it a shot! But, you'll have to remove all your weapons and stuff to fit in, though. Also, empty out your pockets, you won't be able to reach into them when you're in the suit."

Jack nodded and took all his weapons off, his shotgun, his rocket launcher, his 9mm pistol, his 10mm SMG, his assault rifle, his hunting rifle, and that laser rifle too, along the other small guns he had. He emptied his pockets of his Stimpaks, ammo, food, canteens and bottled water until everything was on the table. He had completely forgotten how much he was carrying around. It just never seemed like so much at the time. After that, Jack moved behind the suit as Talus moved out of the way. It was surprisingly empty inside the suit, but either way, he stepped in, and the suit automatically closed in around him. The suit was a bit stuffy, and the visor was a bit thing, but otherwise it was comfortable! "Whoah! This feels pretty nice!"

Talus patted the armor on the shoulder with his own armored hand. "Good, good. Everything seems to be working fine. Take a few steps around!"

Jack did as he was told, taking some thunderous steps around the room. He felt like he was a giant! Like he was invincible! "Wow! This is great! I thought it'd be harder to get used to than this, Paladin!"

"Well, the suit does most of the work for you. Here, catch!" Talus called, tossing the rocket launcher at Jack, who managed to catch it before it hit the floor. Surprisingly, it felt even lighter! About half as heavy as before! "Not as much of a load, huh? The suit will increase your strength too. And it's essentially bullet and laser-proof, even the visor is made of bullet-proof glass."

"This really is amazing!" Jack gushed, casually holding the rocket launcher in one hand. "Just one thing, how do I get out of it, Paladin?"

Talus cleared his throat. "Yeah, that's the thing…Well…you don't."

There was a moment of silence before Jack dropped the rocket launcher. "Wait, what?! What do you mean I can't get out!?"

Ian and Tycho stared at Talus too, Ian's mouth agape. "Why would you not be able to get out!?" Tycho asked, not believing such an impressive suit would have such a horrible flaw.

Talus didn't say anything. A second…two seconds…then he burst out laughing, causing confusion to ripple through the quartet. "Oooh, that was a good one! No, don't worry. It was a joke! Pull it in the newbies all the time! Hah! It's easy, just clench both your fists as tight as you can for a few seconds, and the back'll open. The helmet comes off too, just pull up on it'll come undone and come off."

The quartet was still silent, before Jack spoke up after a few moments. "Uh, wow. That…was a pretty good prank." He was scared shitless! The suit was cool, but being trapped in it forever didn't sound fun! Either way, he clenched both of his fists as Ian and Tycho sighed, shaking their heads. As Talus said, the back opened up again and Jack stepped out, the suit closing again soon after. "You really had me going there, Paladin!"

Talus let out a last few chuckles before clearing his throat. "Now then, as I said before, things will be a lot easier to carry. And thankfully, the suit comes with a lot of slots to put things in. Let me show you the ropes…" Talus spent the next few minutes pointing out the compartments in the suit. Some for ammo, some acted like holsters for the guns. Hooks unfolded from the back, allowing him to store the rocket launcher easily, along with some of the bigger guns like his shotgun and assault rifle. Everything that couldn't fit on or in the armor could just be put in Jack's bag. Apparently, Jack's Pip-Boy 2000 could hook up with the Power Armor. With some very precise twitches of Jack's left hand, he could bring up a map and compass in the suit's visor to help with travel.

After gearing the suit up, Jack got back in the armor, putting his bag back on last. He looked like a walking armory at this point, simply covered in weapons. He gave a salute to Talus. "Thank you for helping me out so much, Paladin! Is there anything else I should know?"

Talus shook his head. "No, that's about it. Just be careful not to trip or get knocked down, getting up in that is a bit of a hassle. Now, are you ready for your next assignment?"

Jack cleared his throat, which sounded odd coming out of the Power Armor's helmet. "Well, actually, I need to do something first, Paladin. Two things, actually."

Talus raised an eyebrow. "Is that right, rookie?"

Jack nodded. "Well, I was hoping to talk to Vree about the Vaults…And I need to go back to mine and deliver something very important, Paladin."

Talus thought this over, then nodded. "Alright, I guess you've earned that. But I want you back for an assignment soon, you understand?"

Jack gave a salute. "Yes, Paladin!"

Talus nodded again. "Good. You'll find Vree down in Level 3. You're dismissed, rookie!"

With that, the group left the room, heading back to the elevator. "I'm not gonna lie," Ian started. "I'm pretty jealous of that Power Armor. You'd probably be able to take down a whole group of those green mutants without getting a scratch!"

Tycho nodded in agreement as the four entered the elevator, starting their descent. "Yeah, think we could take that for a spin?"

Jack chuckled, it was weird hearing anything he said or vocalized out of the helmet's speaker. "I don't see why not; it really feels good in here."

The elevator soon arrived at the third level, with the group entering the nearest set of doors. Inside, there were several people dressed like Senior Scribe Roberts, in those armored robes. "I guess this is where the Scribes all do their work…" Tycho noted. "But which one is Vree?"

"Who, Vree?" A voice called. The group turned to see a Scribe that was passing by, a boy that couldn't have been older than fifteen. He didn't seem surprised by Tycho, Ian, or Dogmeat. In fact, no one had taken a second glance at the group. Perhaps Talus had already spread word about Jack and his companions. "That's her, over there." The youth pointed to a woman in a brown robe, her head was shaven except for a bunch in the back that was made into a ponytail. She wore half-moon glasses and was, to the group's surprise, studying the corpse of one of those giant green mutants.

"I see. Thanks." Jack said, just a tad shocked. How did they get one of those creatures down here? Either way, the three men and Dogmeat approached Vree, and Jack cleared his throat. "Uh, excuse me? Head Scribe Vree?"

The woman sighed and turned to the group, raising an eyebrow and seeming like they were wasting her time. "Yes, yes what can I do for you? Make it quick, I'm very busy."

Ian scowled and was about to say something, but Tycho spoke up first. "Say, where did you get one of those mutants? We've seen a bunch of them around." That wasn't what they were there for, but damn if Tycho wasn't curious.

"Ah, of course." Vree said, looking back at the mutant. "One of our squads of Knights brought this corpse from a bit up north. Thanks to their Power Armor they could move it. Damn Super Mutant could barely fit in the elevators…"

"Super Mutant? That's what you call them?" Ian asked, glancing at the corpse. It was covered in scars and what seemed to be bite marks from an overgrown wolf of some kind.

Vree shrugged. "I don't see why not. They are rather Super, if I do say so myself. I've been studying the corpse for the last few days, and it really is astonishing. I'm afraid I can't share information like that quite yet, especially since I'm not finished." Vree huffed a bit, looking at the creature. "Now, will that be all?"

"Actually…" Jack spoke up. "I was hoping to ask if you knew anything about Vaults."

That seemed to confuse Vree, both eyebrows raised now. "Vaults? Whatever for?"

Jack sighed, taking off his Power Armor's helmet, it came off quite easily. "Well, I'm from one. Vault 13, to be exact. And it's just…we discovered something disturbing in Vault 12, underneath Necropolis, and-"

Vree held up a hand to interrupt. "A Vault beneath that city? I suppose that explains how they've survived for so long…Anyway, go on."

"Uh, right. So, we looked on the terminals, and it was saying some disturbing stuff." Jack answered, feeling uneasy. He really wished he hadn't known about this, that he could continue in blind ignorance. "It was a message to the Overseer from Vault-Tec, instructing that the Vault's door was going to remain open to let radiation leak in as some sort of test!"

Vree's eyes widened, the first hint of emotion that wasn't annoyance or neutrality since they first started speaking to her. "Do you have a copy of this, by any chance?"

Jack shook his head. "No, I'm afraid we didn't think to get one." How would he even do that? Could his Pip-Boy 2000 do it? "Basically, what I'm asking is if you know more about this; these tests and if other Vaults do things like that."

Vree nodded, gesturing over to a nearby terminal, sitting in front of it and typing away. "Yes, actually. We have gathered some reports of Vaults from across the land, some very far from this Wasteland. For instance, one Vault 36 was designed so that the food extruders were designed to produce some kind of disgusting, watery gruel. Vault 55 had no entertainment tapes. And Vault 15 was simply set to stay sealed for fifty years before the residents could leave, and the people inside were of a large mix of different cultures. We have no information of Vault 13, however. When were you allowed to leave it?"

Jack cleared his throat a bit. None of these experiments seemed nearly as horrific as what was done in Vault 12…what was the purpose of these actions?! Either way, Vree was expecting an answer. "Well, I was the only one that left. Our Water Chip broke, and I was sent to find a replacement."

Vree nodded. "I see…How interesting…" She mused. "We really must discuss how life in the Vaults are."

Jack put his helmet back on. "Well, sure, I don't mind. But…I really should get the Water Chip back as soon as I can. But one day we'll have that talk." Jack said. "Thank you for your help."

Vree frowned, logging off the terminal. "I see. Well, your Vault does need you. Just don't forget about me, alright?"

"I won't, I promise." Jack replied, as he and his group went back to the elevator.

Ian was the first to speak up as the elevator doors closed. "So, what do you guys make of all that? Just what the Hell is up with these Vaults?"

Tycho shrugged. "It at least seems to be pretty wide-spread, yet some Vaults have it a lot worse than others. But why? What do you think, Jack?" There wasn't an answer. "Jack?"

Jack was lost in thought. What was he gonna do? Thankfully his helmet masked his expression. He was sweating bullets, a look of worry plastered on his face. What was he going to say to Jacoren? He couldn't just leave this matter alone! He then realized Tycho was talking to him. "Huh? What?"

"I was asking what you thought about this." Tycho repeated. "Are you okay?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I was just lost in thought. I just think my Overseer and I are gonna have a long talk about this…" Jack replied. Dogmeat nuzzled against his hand, sensing his master's distress. He patted the dog carefully on the head as he thought some more. Jacoren had to know about all this, right? As an Overseer, why wouldn't he?

The group soon reached the top, and headed north.

It wasn't until a few days later that Ian noticed something about their route. "Say, Jack. Is it me, or are we veering to the east a bit?"

Jack, who was walking a bit ahead of the group, stopped. "Well…There's one thing I wanted to do before we went back to Vault 13."

"What, really?" Tycho asked. "We've been doing a whole bunch of errands when we found that Water Chip weeks and weeks ago!" He forced Jack to turn around. "What are you waiting for? It almost makes me think you don't want to go back!"

"Yeah, we busted our asses to get this Water Chip. Aren't you gonna deliver it?" Ian added in, glaring Jack in the visor.

Jack sighed, staring at the ground. "It's just…I'm nervous to go back. I admit it." And he really wished he didn't have be saying all this. "I'm freaked out about facing my Overseer, Jacoren. About what we found in Vault 12, and what Vree told us. I don't know if I can trust him anymore. I was hoping to do anything to avoid going directly back to Vault 13, making it a last resort after everything else we could do on the way is done." Jack sighed. "And the last stop is Shady Sands. I actually do genuinely want to check up on them. What if Ian and I didn't get all the Radscorpion eggs?" Jack and Ian had recounted their tale to Tycho on one of the quiet, starry nights during their journey.

Ian and Tycho didn't say anything, while Dogmeat sat down and whimpered, sensing the tension between the three men. "…Fine. This one last stop, though." Tycho said.

Ian let out an annoyed grunt. "If you try to chicken out again after this, I won't be following you anymore, you understand?" He asked, practically glaring a hole in Jack's Power Armor.

Jack wasn't expecting such an ultimatum, but it seemed he had no choice but to accept. He gave a curt nod. "Fine, it's a deal."

And with that, the four slowly proceeded towards Shady Sands. After just a few more days, the group arrived at the front gate, where Seth was still guarding, with Katrina oddly absent. Seth raised his hunting rifle. "Hey! Hold it right there! Who are you, and why are you carrying so many weapons!?" He shouted.

Jack had to give it to Seth, he sure was brave. If the roles were reversed, Jack would never threaten such an imposing figure. Jack put his hands up as a sign of passiveness. When Seth didn't shoot, he slowly removed his helmet, showing his face. "Easy, Seth. I don't know if you remember, but it's me, Jack! And don't tell me you forgot Ian already!"

Ian stepped forward at that. "Yeah, come on! After all I've done around here?"

Seth paused, then lowered his gun. "Shit, Ian, Jack, I'm sorry. And to you, Ian, I was just kinda distracted by the walking armory here. Where did you _get_ that, Jack?"

"It's…uh…A long story, let's put it that way." Jack said. "But uh, we just came here to check up on things, make sure no Radscorpions came back or anything."

Seth let out a sigh, his face suddenly grim. "We do have a problem, but not with any Radscorpions. It's Aradesh's daughter, Tandi. Some raiders, call themselves The Khans kidnapped her."

"Well, what are you doing here? Shouldn't there be a rescue party?" Ian asked.

Seth shook his head. "I'm really the only one here that can fight. But one, I can't leave the gate unguarded. And two, I can't take on a gang of raiders by myself. It'd be suicide!"

Jack put his helmet back on. He knew what he had to do, and thank God he came along. "Where are they?"

Seth gaped at Jack. "What, you're not gonna actually go, are you?"

Jack shrugged. "I don't see why not. With armor like this, I should be fine."

Tycho nodded. "Yeah, Jack's like a walking Vault in this thing." At least, he ASSUMED so. He really has never actually seen anyone in Power Armor in action…

Seth sighed. "Well, alright. But, I can't come with you. I gotta guard the gate. They're directly south of us, about two day's trip."

"Say, can we get some food for this trip? We're almost out." Ian said. "And we'll need some for Tandi too."

Seth nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'll see what I can do." Seth walked further into the town, soon returning with some food and water. "This'll last you at least a week. I'll expect some money for this when you get back, okay?"

Taking the food and packing it all away between the three men, Jack nodded. "Don't worry, we'll be back soon, you can count on it!" With a wave, Jack and his three companions headed south.

Just as Seth said, two days later the four of them came across a camp. It was mainly a medium-sized building and a handful of tents. The group was hiding behind some rocks. The camp had a number of mean-looking thugs. Men and women in leather armor, holding shotguns, rifles, and spears. "Jeez, that's a lot of people…" Tycho murmured.

"It'll be fine, just stay behind me." Jack said as he got his assault rifle ready and started to march towards the camp. "You stay, Dogmeat!" Jack called, prompting the dog to sit in place, whining lightly.

Ian and Tycho scrambled behind Jack so they were mostly hidden. " _That's_ your plan?! Just walk right in!?" Ian scolded. "This is crazy!"

"Well, Talus said this Power Armor is bullet and laser-proof, so we should be fine." Jack said. "Besides, if I don't try…I'd never be able to sleep soundly at night again."

Soon, the trio was in sight of the Khans. "Hey! You there! Stop!" One of the men yelled, leveling his shotgun towards Jack. Ian and Tycho squeezed behind the metal man as Jack opened fire on the raider, dropping him in a matter of seconds.

What happened next could only be described as a massacre. Ever raider on the outside knew of Jack's presence now, and they all came at him at once. Yet, no damage was done. The Khans fired, and fired, and fired, but whether they shot with a shotgun, an assault rifle, or a revolver, the projectiles harmlessly pinged off of the Power Armor. If it wasn't for the noise of the impacts, and the very slight vibration Jack felt, he would've just assumed all of the bullets and shells were missing. One desperate Khan even through a spear, but Jack simply caught it and snapped it in half as if it was a toothpick.

Within five minutes, every raider outside was dead. There was one exception where a man dropped his weapon and ran off. Jack let him go, it wouldn't feel right to shoot someone in the back. Ian and Tycho didn't even get to do much, they simply used Jack as a human shield. After checking the tents and not seeing Tandi, it was time to go into the main building. "Alright, same plan as before, just stick behind me." Jack said as he kicked the door into splinters. Inside were three more raiders, two men in leather armor, and one man in metal armor. No one fired, though the man in metal armor had a Desert Eagle .44 out, aimed at Jack. "Alright, there's been enough violence here. Just give me Tandi, and I'll go." Jack ordered. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins. In a moment that made him feel physically ill…he almost hoped the man before him would fire.

The man snarled. "How _dare_ you enter the camp of me, Garl Death-Hand, and kill my people! I should gut you like a rat for this!" He growled. Garl ran into the next room, slamming the door shut behind him as the two raiders reached for their weapons. They didn't even get that far before Jack mowed them down. The trio of men gave chase go Garl, who was pointing his gun into a jail cell, where a lone girl with brownish skin was sitting, wide-eyed and shivering in the corner. "Don't move! Put your weapon away, or she dies!"

Jack slowly put his gun on his back, as Ian and Tycho stepped out from behind Jack. "Hey, come on now…She didn't do anything wrong." Tycho tried to argue.

"Shut up!" Garl shouted. "I'm gonna kill her, and then the three of you!" Garl started to ease his finger around the trigger, but in a surprising burst of speed that shocked everyone in the room, Jack lunged forward and wrapped a metal hand around Garl's wrist. "Agh! Hey! Easy!" He grunted.

Jack wasn't listening. A dark anger was flowing into his heart and mind. He squeezed…and squeezed…and squeezed Garl's wrist until the raider dropped the gun on the floor. But Jack didn't let go. "Why did you kidnap this innocent girl?" His voice was eerily calm, almost like he was asking Garl to hand him something.

Garl tried in vain to wrestle his arm from Jack. The Power Armor was just too powerful, however. "We were gonna hold her for ransom, and maybe have some fun with- AGH!"

Garl let out a cry as Jack squeezed harder, the sound of cracking bone was audible to everyone in the room. "Hey, Jack…take it easy! The guy can't even fight back!" Tycho said, though made no move to try and intervene.

"Y-Yeah, come on! I can't do anything! I'm sorry, okay!? I-" There was more crunching as Garl howled in pain as Jack tightened his grip even more.

"I was never one to be able to read people well. Just never a skill I had." Jack started, his tone like ice, still speaking in a calm manner. "But with you, I feel like I'm reading a book. You're not sorry, not even remotely so. I can see it in your face, especially the way your eyes flicker to your weapon. The second I let go, you'd grab it and try to kill Tandi or one of my friends. Or even me." Jack tightened his grip somehow even more, Garl wailing in pain. "I've come across some evil figures in this Wasteland, but you are by far the lowest of them all. Gizmo may have been a disgusting man, but he went down with a fight, he didn't beg. Neither did Decker, they had the decency at least to go down with dignity and pride. And the Super Mutants…they're obviously too stupid to know what they're doing. Whoever and whatever The Master is, he has some powerful grip on them. But you…you're pathetic. Threatening to shoot a defenseless girl instead of giving up and letting her go when you know you can't win. Of all the people I've encountered so far out here, and in my entire life, you disgust me the most."

Garl was quiet during this whole speech of Jack's. He was certainly right about trying to wanting to get his weapon, but had no idea what he was talking about otherwise. Gizmo? Decker? Super Mutants? The Master? What?! In a desperate attempt, Garl lunged towards his gun, but Jack just yanked his arm so he went into a nearby wall. After recovering, Garl lunged at Jack in a last-ditch effort. "You son of a bitch, you'll pay for all this!"

Jack slammed a metal fist into Garl's face, his nose instantly breaking in a shower of blood. He collapsed to the ground, where Jack decided to be merciful and shoot his 9mm pistol in the Khan Leader's head, killing him. There was a heavy, tense silence. Ian and Tycho had watched the whole exchange with stupefied expressions. Who was this ruthless man, and what did he do with Jack? "Uh…Jack…?" Ian started.

Jack shook his head. "Go see if there's anyone else here. Either Khans or other kidnapped people. I'll get Tandi out of there." Jack ordered. It was clearly an order, not a request like he usually gave. Ian and Tycho decided it was best not to try and argue and went further into the building. Jack turned to Tandi, getting a good look at her. Aside from her skin, her hair was brown too; short and somewhat messily cut. She had large, but not _too_ large, brown eyes and an overall cute demeanor. She couldn't have been older than seventeen years old. "Are you okay?"

Tandi slowly stood up. The performance she witnessed was…disturbing, to say the least. Yet, at the same time…he did kill that bastard Garl. This guy couldn't be all bad…right? "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. They didn't really do much but throw me in this cell, to be honest. But thank you. How did you know I was here anyway? Did my dad send you?"

Jack was looking through Garl's clothes as Tandi spoke, listening to her as he searched. "Well, Seth was the one who told us about it. We didn't get far enough into Shady Sands to even see your dad. Dang, no key…"

Jack stood up and with an angry grunt, he grabbed the door's bars and pulled…pulled…there! With the groaning of metal and concrete, the cell door came off! Jack tossed it to the side like a small plank of wood. "Oh, wow…What IS that thing you're wearing?"

Jack took off his helmet. "Power Armor. Basically, it lets me go through gunfire and increases strength. Now come on…" He put the helmet back on. "We gotta get you home."

The walk back was an awkward one. Ian and Tycho found no more Khans, but two women that were their slaves, who ran off into the Wasteland as soon as Tycho mentioned the Khans were dead. The group then searched the camp for supplies and weapons, got Dogmeat, and went back to Shady Sands. Ian and Tycho were a bit unnerved by how Jack acted, but whenever they brought it up, he shot them down. In two days, the five of them were at the gate of Shady Sands where Seth and Aradesh at the entrance. As soon as Tandi was in eyesight, the father went and enclosed her in a tight hug. "Oh, Tandi, you came back! I was so worried!" He turned to the trio of men…and Dogmeat. "Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! Once again, you have done a great service to us!"

Jack took his helmet back, the scene before him warming his heart. "We couldn't just leave her like that, right?"

Aradesh's smile widened a bit at that. "Well, in any case, Seth told me about the food he gave you. Do not worry about paying it back. In fact, when Seth fetched me after spotting you, I came with this." The leader of Shady Sands gave a bag full of preserved food and some bottled waters to Tycho, as he was standing closest. "You three, and the dog too, will always be welcome here."

"Well, thank you, Aradesh. But I'm afraid we should be going. Now I must save my own home." Jack said as he put his helmet on. With a few more good-byes, the quartet went west, to Vault 13, with Seth, Tandi, and Aradesh waving to the departing heroes.

"So, where is this Vault?" Ian asked. The group arrived at a large mountain a few days later, now walking around it in a clockwise pattern.

"It's here, don't worry. There's an opening somewhere close…It leads to a cave, where the Vault is." Jack answered. After a few more minutes of silence, an opening appeared. "Aha! This is it!" Jack exclaimed leading the group into the cave. He pressed a small switch on his helmet, turning on the lamp. Jack was starting to get nervous, he wasn't looking forward to seeing Jacoren after all that he learned. But he knew he'd have to at some point.

Soon, the four of them came across the Vault door. The control panel next to it was flashing and operational. The skeleton was still there. "Wait, what the fuck is that skeleton doing here?" Ian asked. "It's got one of those Vault Suits on it!"

Jack shook his head. "I don't know. It was there when I first left. I just assumed it was someone from Vault 15 who came here for some reason. The suit was so worn, even then, that I couldn't tell what the number was."

"That's…well, I guess it's not the worst I've seen." Tycho said with a shrug. "I saw a guy burn to death a few years back. Nasty business."

Jack was about to comment when a whirring noise caught his attention. The camera above the Vault door swiveled so it was looking directly at him. Jack took his helmet off and gave a wave. "It's me, Jack! Open up, I've got it!"

There was a pause. A whole ten seconds, then an alarm blared, causing Ian and Tycho to jump, and Dogmeat to start barking. The huge Vault door creaked and screeched as it rolled open. In the opening hallway were three security guards, one of which being Ben, the guard Jack passed by on that fateful day he left the Vault. "Jack, is that really you?" He asked, looking the group up and down. "What are you _wearing_? Who are these guys?"

Jack couldn't help but chuckle. It almost felt weird talking to people from the Vault again. "This is Power Armor, very advanced. And these two are Ian and Tycho. They helped me get this far and survive." Jack gestured to the respective companions. Dogmeat was sniffing the air in the guards' direction, getting a scent on the men. "And this dog here is Dogmeat."

"I…I see." Ben said, seeming uncomfortable. He clearly wasn't expecting guests. "Well, if these men and this dog helped you out, I suppose they can come in if you wish, but they must relinquish their weapons to us."

Ian scowled at that. "What, you don't trust us? After all the shit we did to get that Water Chip!"

The two security guards beside Ben fidgeted a bit, hands on their pistols and ready to shoot. "Hey, hey, easy." He said, hands raised. "It's just a precaution, we don't know who you are."

Jack turned to Ian. "Come on, it's just a safety thing. It's not like you need the guns anyway."

Ian thought it over, then sighed. "Fine, fine." He took his pistol out of its holster while Tycho got his shotgun emptied out. A few minutes later, Ian and Tycho had no weapons, though Jack got to keep his. After all, he belonged to the Vault.

The three men and Dogmeat were soon on an elevator to the floor where the Overseer was. Jack had to stop and explain the general situation; who Ian and Tycho were. That, and everyone he passed by stopped the group, giving praise to their hero, and the kids took turn giving Dogmeat a belly rub, the dog's tail a blur from all the positive attention. "Wow, they're practically worshiping ya now." Tycho commented.

"Hah. Yeah, I guess so. I was already head of security, so I wasn't exactly an unknown before." Jack said. He wondered if he'd keep that job, or if Ben replaced him? He wouldn't mind retiring from it. He really didn't want to run the risk of having to point a gun at someone else again. The elevator soon reached the Overseer's level, and Jack lead his group to Jacoren's office. The hallway was oddly empty. Jack entered the Overseer's office, and Jacoren was there to welcome him.

He looked a bit different than Jack remembered. He looked like he aged about five years since Jack saw him. His hair somehow seemed thinner, and he had worry lines on his face. Still, despite his demeanor, Jacoren smiled. "Ah, Jack…Jack! I knew you could do it, my boy!" He turned to Ian and Tycho. "And Ben sent a message, I know about you two. Please, help yourself to some food and bed. It's in the first room on the left you passed when you left the elevator."

Tycho nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Overseer Jacoren…sir." He awkwardly bumbled out, before he and Ian quickly left Jack and Jacoren. Dogmeat sat next to his master, panting lightly as he looked between the two men.

Jacoren shrugged off Tycho's behavior, looking Jack dead in the eyes. "Now…the Water Chip?" He held out his hand expectantly.

Jack felt his chest tighten. The man before him possibly had all the answers he was looking for about the Vaults. Jack actually considered holding the chip ransom in exchange for answers but…he just couldn't do it. He got the Water Chip out and gave it to Jacoren. "Here. Let's just hope this thing works, right?"

Jacoren examined the Water Chip carefully. "That would be a shame, yes…But, this seems to be in good physical condition!" He made his way to a nearby room, gesturing for Jack to follow. Inside was a complicated machine, but Jacoren seemed to know what he was doing as he started to fiddle with it. "You know, I appreciate those two friends of yours, and what they've done. I'm just not sure so many people should know where we are…for our safety, of course. Imagine my surprise when a caravan came, saying that you sent them and gave our exact location." Jacoren didn't sound mad…or upset, or any real emotion. He was just stating facts.

That was almost worse for Jack, he wanted to know how Jacoren specifically felt about that. "I'm…sorry, sir. I just wanted to help out however I could. I wasn't sure I was going to make it back."

Jacoren sighed. "Well, what's done is done. Not like they had the firepower to get in here anyway. This baby was built to withstand nuclear war. Still, caution is important." After some more tinkering, he slipped the Water Chip into a slot. "Now let's see here…Self-test is green…re-boot is good…" There was a confirmation-sounding beep. "Hah! It's working! And it looks like we have a winner! Haha!" Jacoren clapped a single time, turning to Jack. "You've saved us, you've done it!"

Jack let out a sigh of relief, feeling like a huge weight was lifted from his body. "I'm just glad I could help, sir."

Jacoren was all smiles now, he practically seemed to de-age before Jack's eyes. "You're a hero, Jack Washington! You should be proud!" He cleared his throat. "Now, there _is_ the case of your report. Better to do that now then later. I'll let everyone know the good news while you're in the library. I'll pick it up in a few hours."

Jack withheld a groan. Reports, he always hated filling those out. And this wasn't about a drunken squabble, it was a four-month long adventure! Either way, Jack nodded and went into the library, after letting Ian and Tycho know where he was as they lounged in the breakroom. He sat down in the library, Dogmeat curled at his feet and filled out the report. He mentioned all he felt relevant…that is, except for the information about the Vaults he learned. After a few hours, he left the report on the desk by the entrance and joined Tycho and Ian in the breakroom for a nap…After leaving his Power Armor of course. Could never sleep with that all on!

An hour later, Jack was woken from his slumber by someone shaking him. He looked up to see Jacoren. Ian, Tycho, and Dogmeat were all still asleep. "Jack, sorry to wake you but this is urgent. I uh, I just wanted to let you know that the water supply has stabilized. Actually, we're rebuilding our reserves. You did great! I uh, I am a little concerned, however."

Jack blinked himself awake. "What? Concerned with what?"

Jacoren licked his lips as he thought, speaking quietly as not to wake anyone else in the room. "I don't like your reports. What was in the reports, that is. Heh. In fact, they scared the heck out of me! It's those Super Mutants, as you called them. I've done some calculations and, well, I've come to an unpleasant conclusion."

Jack sat up in his chair, now fully awake and alert. Whatever this was, it couldn't be good. "What?"

Jacoren sighed. "Well, with the technology they...this "The Master" has, I fear he may be able to get in the Vault! This poses a problem, as you can guess. I…I'm afraid you have to go back out there. This lab, or factory or whatever it is…it must be destroyed!"

Jack stared at Jacoren. He…knew he was right. Jack remembered, he said he was going to try and do something about The Master and his plans. But Jack didn't know how! He had no idea who The Master was, or _where_ he was. Not to mention where the factory was. Was The Master at the lab, or somewhere else? Wait…Harold. He mentioned the northwest was where the Super Mutants came from. And then Vree mentioned that Super Mutant corpse came from north of the Brotherhood Bunker! "I…I see. I think I know where this factory is, in fact." Jack said, standing up. "You can count on me, sir. I won't let you down, sir."

Jacoren seemed relieved, but still let out a sigh. "You…have no idea how sorry I am to send you back out there…" He cleared his throat. "But please…take whatever you need for the trip, food…water…after all now we have plenty of the latter." A pause. "I know you'll succeed…I have faith in you, Jack."

With that, Jacoren left Jack to his devices. The man let out a sigh, before waking Ian and Tycho up. "Guys. Hey. We have a bit of a problem…" He relayed what Jacoren had said to him. The two didn't seem very excited, to say the least.

"Do we really have to go right this second?" Ian asked. "I was just getting used to how comfortable these chairs are, too!"

"No, we should leave right away." Tycho argued. "The longer we wait, the more of those Super Mutants are made. Besides, if we can't stop them…they'll wipe out everyone."

A chill fell upon the room. Tycho was right, and Ian knew it. With a sigh, he stood up. "Right. Well, let's get going, I guess."

The three men stocked up on food, water, and some ammo; with Ian and Tycho getting their weapons back. The security guard at the entrance said nothing; he had his orders already and knew the situation. He just gave the group a pitying look before opening the Vault door once again, sending the three men and their dog back out into the Wasteland.


	8. The Master

It was agreed on the way that the three men would need help. Even with Jack's Power Armor, three men and a dog weren't gonna take down a factory full of Super Mutants on their own. They'd need help. The Brotherhood of Steel was their only option. The first stop was Vree. She had plenty of time to perform her autopsy and study on that Super Mutant corpse, maybe they had some kind of obscure weakness. That, and she would know better where the Knights found the Super Mutant in the first place. The quartet entered the room with all the Scribes once more, making a beeline for Vree. "Hey, Vree. Got a second to talk?" Jack asked as he approached.

Vree was typing away on one of the terminals as the group approached. She turned to them and gave a small half-smile. "Back already, I see. Ready to talk about your Vault?"

Oh, right. Jack forgot about that promise. He couched awkwardly. "Well, uh, we'll have to postpone that again. I have something even more urgent to take care of."

Vree sighed lightly. "What would that be, then?"

"Well, you know more about these Super Mutants than anything. Do they have some kind of weakness? Something that'd kill them easily?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, like garlic does with those blood sucking monsters?" Ian added. Darn, what were those called again…?

The Scribe couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Not quite, no. However, I _did_ discover something interesting." Vree typed some more commands into the terminal, and a holo-disc came out. "As it turns out, these Super Mutants are one-hundred percent sterile. There is zero chance of them being able to reproduce normally." She handed the holo-disc to Jack. "Here, have a copy of my findings. It really is quite remarkable how these creatures are built. They may be sterile, but they are effectively immortal; meaning they'll never die of old age."

Tycho snapped his fingers. "Of course! That's how we really beat them! Their sterility!"

Jack nodded. "That's right! If we destroy their factory, they'll have no way to increase their numbers, and can be picked off!"

"Factory? What factory?" Vree asked, eyebrows raised. "You mean…someplace where these creatures are being made? Someone has harnessed the FEV?"

The trio of men looked at each other in confusion. "FEV? What's FEV?"

Vree sighed again. "Of course, you wouldn't know. I don't have all the details, but from what I've gathered, it's a Pre-War, man-made virus. The Forced Evolutionary Virus. It's almost exactly what it sounds like. If you still don't get it, it essentially mutates creatures into what can be described a more powerful, evolved version of itself. The Super Mutant I studied contained this virus. I just…had no idea someone had their hands on this much…"

"Wait, so this is something humans created? Why?" Ian asked. This was simply too strange. A virus that turned humans into those hulking green monstrosities?

"For the war, I'd gather. Pre-War America wanted the upper-hand in any way they could manage. Mutating their own soldiers seemed like a viable option to them." Vree explained. "They really must have been desperate to win this war. Now, again, what is this about a factory?" Vree pressed.

Jack sighed. First these Vaults and their experiments…and now this? What kind of Hell was the Old World? "Well, I talked to a mutant named Harold in The Hub, and he told how Super Mutants seemed to originate from the northwest. Then I recalled what you said, how those Knights got your Super Mutant corpse from the north. It all adds up!"

Vree pondered this for a moment, then seemed like she was struck by something. She went back to her terminal and had her fingers dance across the keyboard before turning back to the group. "Yes, that's it! The Mariposa Military Base!" The look of confusion from Ian, after all Jack and Tycho's faces were hidden, urged her to explain. "There's a Pre-War military base to the northwest. Our records listed it as housing no weapons or technology of worth, so we never explored it. But, with what you said, it makes sense! Why would a military base have nothing? We assumed it was just being built, but wasn't finished before the war started. Secret FEV tests must have been run there, and whatever methods were used got leftover!"

"Well, that seems to make sense, actually." Jack said. He had no idea how spot-on his theory was!

"Well, wait, are we sure it's this base? There must be a lot of stuff to the northwest. We should be sure before we get ahead of ourselves." Ian argued.

"Well, as far as the Brotherhood knows, there's nothing else of interest directly to the northwest. At least, nothing that could house a Super Mutant factory." Vree said.

"It's our best lead at the moment, we should at least investigate." Tycho added. "As of now, we have nowhere else to check."

Ian thought it over, and then nodded. "Well, I suppose that makes sense, then. So, what, are we going have the entire Brotherhood go there?"

Vree shook her head. "I'm afraid not. At least, not without speaking to High Elder Maxson, he's the only one with authority to let such an expedition take place. He's on the bottom floor, you should speak to him right away. As far as I know, he shouldn't be too busy to talk at the moment. He'll be in the first room you see down there, purple robe, pretty old."

"Right! We'll get his help! Thanks, Vree!" Jack gave her the Brotherhood salute, and soon his team was at the bottom floor of the bunker. They entered the nearest door, seeing an elderly man sitting behind a desk, typing into a small terminal. He was balding, and what hair he had left was shockingly white. Despite his age, he seemed strong in stature, and was wearing a Scribe-like outfit, except this one was purple. "So sorry to intrude, High Elder, but I must speak with you!" Jack said before the man could comment on the intrusion. There was another door behind him, leading further into the level.

High Elder Maxson looked up from his terminal with a grumpy look. Like one might give a disobedient child after they hit a baseball through the neighbor's window. "Now what's all this about? Who are you, exactly?"

Jack quickly gave the Brotherhood salute and removed his helmet. "Sorry, sir. Jack Washington, Initiate. I insist that we speak, this is very urgent! The Wasteland is at stake!" It was odd how Jack felt the need to act so formal with the Brotherhood. Really, he didn't feel that strong of a loyalty to them. Not that he didn't like them or wished any ill-will, and he felt Talus and Vree were good people. It was just, in the end, Jack's true loyalty was to Vault 13…he was a Vault Dweller, through and through, not a Brotherhood Initiate.

"Ah, yes." Maxson said with a sniff. "I heard about you. Travel around with Outsiders. If you insist we talk, those two must wait outside."

Ian stepped forward. "What gives, old man!? We have just as much of a right-"

Ian's rant was interrupted by Tycho, who dragged the still-ranting man out of the room by the arm. "Now, now. Let's not cause a scene, Ian!" He chastised. "Come on, Dogmeat!" He called, prompting the dog to follow the two men out of the room, the door closing behind them.

Maxson sighed and shook his head slightly. "Now, what was this urgent business that we must speak of?" He sounded rather annoyed, as if not trusting that Jack really had anything important to say.

"It's about the Super Mutants. Vree and I were talking, and we are quite sure that we've found out where they are coming from! Vree called it the Mariposa Military Base. We know these creatures are coming from the northwest, and that seems to be the only place that can generate them!" Jack explained, feeling a bit out of breath.

Maxson did not seem to expect that. He stood up, stepping out from behind his desk. "And what makes you think they are being generated?"

"Well, Vree mentioned they were made with the Forced Evolutionary Virus, something man-made. Something that isn't out in the wild. And I've fought heard Super Mutants refer to someone known as "The Master", someone that leads this terrible army! Please, sir, without the aid of the Brotherhood, the army will only grow until they kill us all!" Jack urged. What if Maxson didn't believe him? Or needed to wait and study the situation for weeks first? There just wasn't any time for that!

Maxson scratched his chin and thought…and thought…and thought. After a few minutes of pondering, he nodded. "That _does_ seem to add up, yes. I can't see why you would lie about something so serious. I will talk to the Elders about mounting an expedition."

Jack let out a sigh of relief, but now seemed confused too. "The Elders? I thought you were in charge."

Maxson shook his head. "Well, as High Elder, I have more sway in the workings of the Brotherhood, but I don't have all the power, no one man should! I can't even make important decisions like this in this chapter!" Chapter? Like, group? Jack was amazed, there were other bunkers like this somewhere? "Decisions like this must be made as a group between the Elders. You wait here."

With that, Maxson went into the door behind his desk, and it closed automatically behind him. The wait seemed like hours, when in actuality it was about ten minutes. Jack put his helmet back on as he waited. He didn't want Maxson to see how nervous he was. Soon, the poor opened again, and Maxson came back in. "What's the news, sir?" Jack automatically asked.

"Hold your horses and let me speak, Initiate!" Maxson scolded. "The Elders agree with your plan; you have your expedition. They already radioed in three Paladins that will accompany you. Talus, Mathia, and Darrel." He nodded. "You are dismissed and to head out immediately. Good luck, Initiate."

Jack once more felt like a weight had been lifted from him, and gave a salute. "Thank you, sir. I won't let you down!" He had no choice. If that factory wasn't destroyed, the Wasteland, and his Vault, were doomed. With that, he left the room. Ian and Tycho were chatting amongst themselves as Dogmeat was licking a private place as they waited.

"Well, what's the word?" Tycho asked. "It sure took long enough!"

Jack kept walking to the elevator and called back. "We're departing now to the base with three Paladins! Let's go!"

The two men and Dogmeat followed Jack up the surface where, as said, three Paladins were waiting. One had a minigun, one had a rocket launcher, and one had an odd-looking machine gun that seemed to have extra electric parts. Talus saluted Jack, who saluted back. "Alright, here's how this works." He said, the casual, friendly tone when he was giving Jack his armor now gone. He sounded more stern now. "This may be your doing, but I am in charge of this expedition, and you will follow my orders, understand?" The two other Paladins made no movements, it seemed they had been briefed, they didn't even really acknowledge Jack or his group.

Jack saluted back as Talus did his salute, and gave a nod at the instructions. "Understood, sir." He elbowed Ian lightly, who seemed as though he had a nasty comment to make.

"I will, this once, allow you to bring these two men and your dog with you, we'll need all the firepower we can. Now, I'll be leading the way, I know where this base is. Let's move out, men!" Talus cried as the septet made their way northwest, to the Mariposa Military Base.

The walk was mostly quiet, and a long one at that. The Paladins didn't seem much for conversation, except for Talus deciding when is a good time to set up camp for the night. Nothing very interesting went on, except for the discovery of a large, strange metal object imbedded, almost crashed, into the ground with two skeletons nearby. The skeletons were short in stature, but had giant bulbous heads. It was decided not to poke around the unknown object. After about a week of travel, the group reached a large, relatively maintained building. In front of it were a couple of Super Mutants, four to be exact. The humans and Dogmeat hid behind a large rock near the base, examining the situation. "What's the plan, Talus?" Mathia asked. "All in at once? We don't have the weapons for a sneak attack."

"It seems like that's the best course of action. Everyone get ready…" Talus said, as the group got their weapons out. Jack got out his assault rifle, Tycho his combat shotgun, and Ian his trust 9mm pistol. Dogmeat was growling, teeth barred in the direction of the base. "Alright…GO! GO! GO!" Talus yelled as the group charged at the base.

The Super Mutants quickly realized they were under attack and each let out a battle cry. Three of them had laser rifles, while one had a rocket launcher, which it fires right away. Thankfully, the rocket missed anyone in the group and harmlessly exploded far away. One of the other Super Mutants took out a radio which looked almost comically small in its large green hand and yelled something into it, which was muted to the group by the sound of Darrel firing his minigun at said mutant, quickly dropping it dead on the ground. Dogmeat charged at the Super Mutant reloading its rocket launcher and chomped down on its leg. The green giant howled and dropped its weapon, but raised its arms up with the intent to smash the poor canine, but Jack fired away at its arms, stunning it and allowing Jack to finish it off by unleashing his assault rifle onto its face.

Mathia was firing her odd minigun, which shot lasers out at a rapid pace, at one of the remaining two Super Mutants. It charged at her, the lasers not piercing its skin; though Ian and Tycho worked together with their respective weapons to bring the monster down before it could reach the Paladin. Finally, Talus was aiming his rocket launcher at the last mutant, whose laser rifle blasts harmlessly hit the Paladin's Power Armor. When the timing was right, Talus let a rocket fly, blowing the Super Mutant into chunks. In about two minutes, all four of the Super Mutants were dead.

"Holy shit. That was short work!" Tycho exclaimed, examining the damage. "At this rate, this will be an easy mission!"

Talus made a clicking noise with his tongue. "Don't be so cocky! This base could have hundreds of Super Mutants in it for all we know! And with weapons more powerful than the ones out here! Besides, one of the Super Mutants was probably calling for backup or was letting the base know of our presence with that radio. Either way, things got a lot harder." Tycho just nodded sheepishly in response.

Jack, meanwhile, was trying to get the door open. "And we have another problem, the door is locked. Looks like we need a password…" He yelled back to the group. "Any of those Super Mutants have a note or tape or something? This door needs a code to open!"

The Paladins checked over the Super Mutant corpses while Ian, Tycho, and Dogmeat joined Jack over by the door. After a few seconds, Talus spoke up. "Found something! There's a tape, it's too broken to work, but there's something scratched in. Try '010597', Initiate!" He ordered Jack.

"Got it!" Jack entered the code that Talus gave to him in the door's keypad. There was a series of beeps and a metal clunk. Jack tried the door again and opened it. Beyond the door was a dark hallway, with just a spot of light a few meters into the base. "It's open, sir!" He announced.

"Shhh! You crazy? Keep your voice down." Talus scolded, getting closer so he didn't have to raise his voice. Mathia, Darrel, Ian, Tycho, and Dogmeat all approached the door; though Dogmeat seemed hesitant to get too close, barring his teeth and growling lightly at the doorway.

"Right, sorry." Jack said, noting Dogmeat's behavior. "Whatever is in there, Dogmeat doesn't like it." Could it be the FEV itself that Dogmeat is smelling? Who knows?

"Well, he can stay outside with the three of us, then." Talus said with a shrug.

"Wait, what?!" Ian blurted out. "What do you mean 'stay outside'?"

Talus sighed and muttered something that sounded like "Outsiders". "I already said before, one of those Super Mutants used their radio to most likely call for backup. Who knows how close some Super Mutant patrols could be. If they come in after us, we'll be caught in a pincer, and we'll have to way to tactically retreat if we need it. Mathia, Darrel, Dogmeat and I will stay out here and keep any returning Super Mutants out, while you guys go in. There were only four Super Mutants directly guarding the entrance, so it seems like they don't have many to spare. If they did, they'd probably have a dozen of the fuckers here guarding something so important. You understand?"

Jack, Ian, and Tycho absorbed these words, with Jack giving a nod. "That…Does make sense. I'm just not sure what to do exactly when we get in there, sir."

"A lot of these Pre-War bases had some kind of self-destruct function." Talus explained. "I suppose just in case an invasion force was too much, and they didn't want any secrets to get out. This one probably does too, so look for that." He glanced around the area, the horizon specifically, noticing a few incoming specks. They were moving in _fast_. "If there isn't one, we'll figure something out, but you gotta move! Reinforcements are incoming!"

Jack could see the logic in that. He sure didn't want to get attacked from both sides. "Understood, sir! Dogmeat, stay out here, understand?" It seemed the canine did, as he sat down with a whimper. "Good. Come on, you two, let's go!" Jack reloaded his assault rifle and entered the base, with Ian and Tycho following suit.

The trio went quietly through the entrance hall. As quiet as Jack's Power Suit would let him walk, that is. "Hey, can't you go quieter than that?" Tycho whispered. "They'll hear us coming from a mile away!"

"I would if I could, but this thing is heavy!" Jack whispered back. "I'm like a walking Vault, this thing is heavy!" The trio reached an entry room, which was currently empty. There were four branching hallways, but each one was blocked by either a yellow or red force field. Two of each color blocked a path. "Great, how do we get past these?" Jack murmured. He approached one of the yellow ones and slowly pressed his assault rifle's barrel against it, and was surprised to see it was stopped! Despite being somewhat transparent, it was like any solid wall. Jack tested this further by slamming a fist into it, to no effect. "Well, we can't go through the yellow ones, it seems…"

Ian, meanwhile, tried sticking his foot through the red force field, only to retract, fall on his rear, and give out a grunt of pain. "Damn it!"

"What, what is it?!" Tycho asked, he and Jack going to Ian's side.

The injured man lifted his foot up, the shoe was mostly gone, along with his sock. The parts of his foot that were showing were covered in second-degree burns. "Burnt my foot pretty bad. We can go through those red ones, but they hurt like shit!"

Before anything could be said, a deep, burly voice rang out. "Hey! Who are you?!" The trio turned to see a Super Mutant approaching from one of the yellow force field-blocked hallways. "Intruders?!" It kicked the side of the force field, the metal part attached to the wall, and it flickered off. A few seconds after he passed the threshold, it turned back on.

Instead of taking out a weapon, the Super Mutant charged at the men, its arms outstretched. When it got too close, Tycho shoved his combat shotgun in its face and blew its heard apart, killing the Super Mutant swiftly. As this happened, Ian administered a Stimpak on himself, though the wound was healing rather slowly. "Shit, other of those monsters were bound to hear that." Tycho said. "But now we know these force fields are weak, the yellow ones at least!"

Jack nodded and approached the other yellow force field and kicked it as the Super Mutant did and gave what seemed to be the generator of the force field a kick, making it turn off. With Tycho helping Ian move, the three men made it across before the force field turned back on. "Okay, this is good. We have a way to get around now." Jack said. "We gotta keep moving, there will probably be patrols coming."

As he said this, the men heard shouts coming down the hall and around the corner. There was another yellow force field a bit ahead and to the left. "Come on, let's hurry!" They repeated the method, going into a small room with both sides blocked by yellow force fields. There was a large terminal in the room. "Jack, see if you can get something useful out of that terminal, you worked with those at the Vault, didn't you?"

Well, security mostly used terminals to make logs, but it did seem Jack would have the most experience. "Sure, I'll try." As Tycho and Ian watched out for the guards, who seemed to be getting farther away, Jack worked on the terminal. With some guesswork and probably luck, he found a directory for the force fields. "Aha…!" With a few more keystrokes, all the force fields in the base shut down. "There, that'll make things easier…"

"I knew you could do it!" Tycho cheered, then turned to Ian. "How you doing? Your foot better?"

Ian stood up, wincing a bit. "Yeah, it's better, but these burns were bad. Seems like even a Stimpak will take time to heal it. But I can keep going…"

"Well…If you're sure…" Jack said. Ian nodded and limped forward, showing he could move on his own.

"Yeah…Yeah, I got it." Jack and Tycho grinned and were about to follow him when several whirring sounds rang out. "What…What are those thi-" There were several bursts of gunfire from the next room…the one Ian was in. His body jerked and was flung onto its back, riddled with bullet holes.

"IAN!" Tycho and Jack exclaimed at the same time. They went to his side, but with a gurgle of his own blood and a single choked out word, Ian went still. He would never get up again.

"What the fuck just happened?!" Tycho yelled out, getting his combat shotgun ready, rage filling his voice.

"Oh God…Ian…" Jack murmured. He stared down at the corpse of his friend; his first true companion in the Wasteland. And then he was gone, just like that. It was all his fault, if he hadn't dragged Tycho and Ian into his personal quest, none of this would have happened!

"Jack!" Tycho yelled, snapping him out of his trance. He was by Jack's side; the Power Armor-wearing man didn't even notice Tycho's approach. "Look, I know this is crushing, I'm going to miss him too, but we can't mourn right now. We're in the middle of a base full of Super Mutants and robots." He nodded at the room where the gunfire came from. "There are strange robots with…brains in jars for heads. They all have guns too. We can mourn our loss later, but now we have a mission to do." Tycho advised, his tone of voice made Jack believe that Tycho had gone through things like this before.

Jack glanced down at Ian again and nodded. Tycho was right. As much as it hurt to see his friend dead, they had no time to stop and mourn; they were in the middle of enemy territory!" Jack got his assault rifle ready and looked into the next room, barely poking his head out. Did Tycho say…brains? As Jack got a good look at these robots, it seemed Tycho was right! There were four robots in the room, all of the same make. They had tank treads to move around, connected to a base, which in turn connected to a cylindrical body. The robots had two arms, each ending in metal pinchers with four "fingers", and each one had an assault rifle. The most disturbing part was the "head", which was a glass dome with a robotic eye on the front, and within the dome what seemed to be a human brain in some kind of liquid. Jack gaped at these bizarre creations, though it was impossible to tell with his helmet on. The robots didn't seem to notice the two yet, as they weren't technically in the same room as them, perhaps. "Tycho…What are these things?"

Tycho shook his head. "I'm not sure. I think they're these things called Robobrains that I've heard whispers about. I guess they must be with the brains and all." He shuddered a bit. "It's creepy to look at. And before you ask, I have no idea why these things have brains in them."

Jack stared at the robots, rolling about the room with no concrete pattern. These tin cans killed Ian. They had to be scrapped! "Well, whatever they are, I'm not leaving until I destroy them!" Jack said as he stepped into the room. "Just stay back, Tycho!"

Tycho knew Jack had nothing to worry about, those guns wouldn't even put a scratch on Jack. The Vault Dweller marched forward, firing off his assault rifle as the barrage of gunfire from the Robobrains kept bouncing harmlessly off of the Power Armor. Jack aimed his own gunfire at the Robobrains' glass domes, shattering them and tearing the brains inside apart. "Eesh…Messy…" Tycho muttered as he entered the room after the last Robobrain fell. "If anything, this is an act of mercy…probably. Those were most likely human brains, probably forced into those robots."

Jack sighed, reloading his weapon. "I'd rather not think too hard about it, honestly." The duo went to the other side of the room, where an elevator on the other side of a red force field waited. "Let me try something…"

Jack kicked the generator, like with the yellow force fields, but nothing happened. He gave it a few more sharp kicks before finally, it flickered off, giving safe passage. "Well, at least we know those can be undone too." Tycho noted. "Not like we had much choice, this could be the only elevator down."

Some more shouting rang out from somewhere nearby, so Jack and Tycho booked it into the elevator, the latter slamming his fist into the third floor button. "Way I see it, whatever is causing this stuff is at the very bottom if it was top secret, right?"

"Yeah…Probably." Jack droned back. He took these few moments as the elevator went down to think back at Ian. He still couldn't believe it! It was so sudden…he had previously survived so much. Then he just died in a span of a few seconds. "Let's just keep our eyes peeled, there will probably be more Super Mutants closer to this FEV source."

"That's true, we'll need to be careful. Could be more powerful robots too." Tycho pointed out as the elevator reached the third level. The door opened the two were met with another red force field.

"Even _more_ of these things?" Jack asked, sighing and starting to kick the generator sharply, soon disabling it.

The two ventured past the threshold, with a hallway directly to the left and in front of them. The hallway in front of them ended fast, but had a doorway to the left. Tycho pointed down the latter hallway and whispered. "I'll sneak down there, see if there are Super Mutants in that room. You stay here, your Power Armor is too loud."

Jack hesitated. He didn't want to lose Tycho too! But it's not like he could stop Tycho, and it was a good idea. He nodded. "Okay, just be careful, alright?" Jack whispered.

Tycho nodded, his combat shotgun at the ready. He slowly, carefully eased his way down the hall towards the opening. As he got close, he practically stopped to a crawl and paused just outside. Jack wasn't close enough to hear anything, but apparently Tycho was as he speedily tip-toed his way back. It would've been humorous if this wasn't a life-or-death situation. Tycho shook his head when he got back to Jack. "I heard a couple of Super Mutants in there, let's try the other way first."

The two headed down the longer hallway, which lead to a large, empty room. Not only was it lacking Super Mutants, but it had nothing of note. No terminals, furniture, or anything else but two more hallways to go down. The duo went down the hall on the further side of the room, with Jack cautiously peeking around corners as they went. As it turned out, that hallway lead to a slightly spiral path leading to another elevator! "Another elevator? How far down does this base go?" Jack wondered as he and Tycho stepped inside.

There was only one button, to level four. "Only one way to find out!" Tycho said as he pressed the button. Soon, the two arrived on the fourth and final floor of the base. They soon found themselves at another fork. The left path went to a red field generator, while the right path went down a long hallway, with a room off to the left. Tycho once again snuck over, but heard nothing. He peered around the corner, then called back to Jack in a loud whisper. "Robobrains! Three of 'em!"

"I'll take care of them, their weapons won't hurt me!" Jack said, going into the room with his assault rifle ready. Tycho waited out in the hallway as a lookout.

As Jack took care of the Robobrains, two Super Mutants came from around the corner. One held a rocket launcher, one held one of those miniguns that shot lasers, a Gatling laser. "Jack! We got company! Two Super Mutants!"

Jack killed the last of the three Robobrains when he heard Tycho's cry. Tycho was making his way into the room, but he was too slow. As he was about to enter, a whirring sound rang out and a barrage of lasers filled the hall, striking Tycho and piercing through him. Jack rushed over, wanting to help Tycho and pull him into the room, but it was too late. Before Jack could reach him, a laser pierced right through Tycho's head, killing him. "Fuck! No!" Jack blurted out, entering the hallway and staring the Super Mutants down.

The two were laughing, they had the _nerve_ to find joy in this. "None of you normies are getting' to Lou!" The one with the rocket launcher said.

"Yeah, we don't care how shiny you are!" The other chortled, charging up the Gatling laser again and firing.

The lasers did nothing to Jack, the projectiles making only the most minor of nicks and scratches to the Power Armor. At first, Jack just stood there and let the lasers slide off of him. He was consumed with grief and rage, his vision going red, and his only desire was to see the Super Mutants before him _die_. He put the assault rifle away and took out his rocket launcher, which only had one shot left. He fired it at the one that killed Tycho, who continued to fire, trying to hit the rocket now.

The Super Mutant missed, with the rocket hitting the Gatling laser and generating a large explosion that all but reduced the Gatling Super Mutant to pieces and sent the other into a nearby wall, its legs too destroyed for it to walk, or even stand. Jack proceeded to drop his rocket launcher, and pick up the late Tycho's combat shotgun. The remaining Super Mutant couldn't move, so it just gaped at Jack as he approached, pressed the shotgun against its head, and pulled the trigger. Ignoring the resulting mess, Jack dropped the weapon at his feet and just leaned against the wall.

In the course of less than an hour, he already lost his two human companions. They had been there for him for months, helping him with his own personal mission, and look where that got them. Jack felt it was his fault they were gone, that he was to blame. All he could do now was finish the mission they had started. At first, he wanted The Master gone to help both his Vault and the Wasteland. Now, he wanted to see the bastard suffer.

And Jack was disturbed at these thoughts.

Getting his assault rifle ready, he rounded the corner where the two Super Mutants came from. It led to a small room with another Super Mutant and, oddly enough, a human! The human was a meek looking man wearing some odd purple robes with a yellow stripe on them. The Super Mutant seemed a bit bigger than the others, and was wearing some metal armor. The most striking thing about him was a blood-red bionic right eye it had, along with a strange metal scalp. Jack noticed his left eye seemed unhealthy and squinting, and probably couldn't see well out it, hence the other eye being bionic. There was a bunkbed, a table, and a large trunk in the room, the last of which was right next to the Super Mutant. The monstrous being looked at Jack in almost amused fashion and spoke with a deep, intelligent voice that no other Super Mutant that Jack encountered had possessed. "Well, well. It seemed those oafs on the first floor were correct. An intruder. I was expecting more than one, however…"

Jack really wanted to just open fire, but stopped himself. This was the first human he had seen in the presence of a Super Mutant like this. He didn't seem like a prisoner. In fact, he looked at Jack with fear, as if expecting him to start a slaughter. And this Super Mutant seemed far more intelligent than most of the other Super Mutants Jack encountered. They had to know something. If The Master wasn't here, they'd know where to find him. "Who are you two? Why is there a human here?" He didn't even feel rage right now; it was replaced with confusion at the moment.

The human didn't answer, instead glancing at the Super Mutant, obviously expecting him to speak up. "Who, Van Hagan here? Pay him no mind, he is but a messenger. I am in charge here." The Super Mutant answered. He seemed oddly serene despite his two guards being killed and having a human with an assault rifle and Power Armor in front of him.

"Are you The Master then? The one behind all of this?!" Jack asked, his rage returning. And a messenger? So there were humans working for the Super Mutants?

The green giant before Jack shook his head. "No. Though I am surprised you know of him. Not many humans are aware of his existence. I am The Master's Lieutenant, and that is my name. Though the idiots in our army insist on calling me Lou Tenant. I have answered a question of yours, now answer one of mine. Just who are you, human?" The creature's tone almost made it seem like it thought of this as a game! A game of questions.

Jack had to keep playing. If he killed these two right now, he may never get any answers on The Master's location! "I am Jack Washington, from Vault 13. I came here to stop this army The Master has created! Where is he?!"

The Lieutenant seemed surprised at this. "A Vault, you say? How interesting…So that makes you a prime specimen, then." He mused, ignoring Jack's question. "Now then, tell me where this Vault is, or I will make you talk." His tone became darker by the end, letting Jack know it wasn't an idle threat.

Jack knew he had to bluff. He had to get information out of these two, they could be his last leads towards The Master! "If I'm going to cooperating, I'm going to need some questions answered first." Jack said, lowering his assault rifle slightly, though was prepared to fire it at the Super Mutant at any moment.

The Lieutenant thought for a moment, looking Jack up and down. After a few seconds, he nodded. "Oh, very well. I'm curious just to see what you'll ask."

Jack cleared his throat. For some reason, The Lieutenant's nearly nonchalant demeanor unnerved him. He had the air of someone that was fully confident he was in no danger, despite the number of weapons and the type of armor Jack had. But he couldn't be deterred, not now! "Well, I suppose the most important one is who The Master is, and what his plans are."

The Lieutenant nodded, a small smile stretching across this disgusting green face. "The Master is our leader, the first one to utilize the Forced Evolutionary Virus to its fullest potential. Since you've gotten this far, I'll assume you know what the FEV is." After Jack gave a nod, he continued. "As for this plan, he wishes to create a master race and insure the Unity. It's all quite glorious, I assure you."

Well, that didn't tell Jack much more than he didn't already know. "What is the Unity? What is the end goal? Just create more Super Mutants?"

"You know we call ourselves Super Mutants? My, you _have_ done your homework. The Unity, however, is quite simple." The Lieutenant said, with a diabolical type of pride in his voice. "To save the world, we will convert all the worthy individuals into Super Mutants. All under The Master's glorious rule!"

All humans? All of them as Super Mutants? That was madness! Though it was quite a coincidence that Vree called them by the same name. Also, Jack noticed that the messenger, Van Hagan, had yet to say a word or react strongly in any way. Did he know all of this? Was he fine with it? "I…I see. So just make every human a Super Mutant? What if they don't want to become Super Mutants, and how are you doing it at all?"

The Lieutenant let out a somewhat impatient sigh. "Yes, that is he end-goal. How much more clearly must I say it? The Master wants all able-bodied humans to become Super Mutants! Peace will reign under this one master race. Humans are better off this way, whether they know it or not. They may resist, but they will be better off as one of us. It is a favor, really. As for the methods, well, that is what this base is for. The vats on this floor are filled with liquefied FEV. Able-bodied humans are dipped in, and Super Mutants come out. Those unworthy of the transformation simply die. Time in the Wasteland slowly cause humans to mutate, but not in a good way. They mutate in a fashion that will not allow them to reap the full benefits of the FEV. But those in the Vaults, or those not in the Wasteland for long, such as yourself will become prime Super Mutants, such as myself."

These creatures knew only insanity! Jack had no doubt about that now. He was so close, there was only one more piece of information he needed! "Okay, just one more question. Where is The Master if he isn't here?"

"The Master resides in The Cathedral, south of a place the humans call the Boneyard. A cult of humans worships him there, seeing him as a sort of god. They call themselves 'Children of the Cathedral'. Not very bright followers, but still potential and willing Super Mutants." The Lieutenant made a small huffing sound, seeming tired of talking. "Now then, tell me where your Vault is and prepare to join our glorious race, human!"

Excellent. Jack knew where to go now! And a cult was disturbing to think about, though that explained Van Hagan. But now, it was time to destroy this base. "I don't think so, monster! I am going to stop your plans!" Jack raised his assault rifle and opened fire.

It seemed The Lieutenant was expecting this, as he hoisted up the trunk to protect itself against the rain of bullets quick as a flash. Jack stopped firing as this happened, to conserve ammo. The Lieutenant held the trunk up with one hand, and opened it with the other, taking its contents out. As The Lieutenant dropped the trunk, Jack saw it was another Gatling laser. Van Hagan, meanwhile, hid in the farthest corner of the room, muttering something to himself. "You foolish human! I am getting the location of your Vault one way or another!" The Lieutenant growled as he started firing the Gatling laser.

It seemed The Lieutenant had never faced someone in Power Armor before, as he was surprised at how ineffective his weapon was. Still, he wove back and forth, dodging the gunfire from Jack, with most of the bullets that hit pinging off of his metal armor. Soon, Jack had to reload; a chance that The Lieutenant took! The Super Mutant charged at Jack, moving at alarming speeds despite his size, and easily snatched the assault rifle from Jack's grip. The Lieutenant snapped the weapon in half like it was a common stick, and with a mighty kick, knocked Jack onto his back. "Augh, shit!" Jack cursed. Getting up from being knocked down in Power Armor was a bit awkward. Before he could stand, The Lieutenant was upon Jack and punched him in the face, knocking him flat on his back.

The impact didn't hurt too bad thanks to the Power Armor, but the bouncing around in the armor would leave bruises. "I will crack open this metal shell and turn you into one of us! Then, you shall reveal all you know!" The Lieutenant knelt on the ground and blindly pounded away at Jack. The Power Armor took all the blows, though the immense strength of an enraged Super Mutant started to create dents in it. Jack had to act, and he had to act quick! In between the blows, Jack desperately lurched up and swung his fist, and managed to deck The Lieutenant square in the jaw, causing him to reel back a bit. Jack quickly stood up and got his Desert Eagle .44 out quickly and shot at The Lieutenant's head multiple times. All but one bullet missed, which struck the Super Mutant's bionic eye, eliciting a roar of pain from the monster. "You miserable creature! You will never be one of us! I will torture you until you confess!" The Lieutenant yelled.

Jack scooted away quickly. It seemed his study of The Lieutenant was right, and that his left eye wasn't working well, because the Super Mutant was swatting the air blindly. Jack continued to fire at him, but The Lieutenant was moving so erratically, he was hard to hit. Once again, Jack had to reload and The Lieutenant took this time to counterattack. He took a grenade out from a pocket and lobbed it in Jack's direction. "Shit!" Jack blurted out as he backed away from the explosive, but he was a bit too slow.

The explosion once more knocked Jack off of his feet, and once more the Power Armor protected him. However, it seemed explosions were the limit with Power Amor. The legs and lower torso of the advanced suit were burnt and small chunks had been blown off or melted slightly. Luckily, Jack was far enough from the grenade that the Power Armor wasn't critically damaged. Jack quickly got up as The Lieutenant approached him, at least knowing in general where Jack was. "You disgusting rodent…I will make sure you suffer greatly!"

He charged at Jack, preparing a swing, but Jack struck first. A Power Armor'd fist collided into The Lieutenant's stomach. Though the Super Mutant had metal armor, the Power Armor was strong enough to stun the monster momentarily. Luckily, "momentarily" was all Jack needed. Jack struck again, this time in The Lieutenant's face, keeping the Super Mutant stunned. Then another blow to the face, then to the stomach. Jack kept punching again and again and again, not resting for a single moment. His metal-covered arms moved surprisingly fast as he unleashed a storm of punches against the Super Mutant, who was too dazed and damaged to hit back. Finally, Jack slammed a metal fist into The Lieutenant's face, knocking out one of his disgusting teeth and sending the Super Mutant onto his back. Wasting no time, Jack reloaded his Desert Eagle and put several bullets into the monster's kneecaps, causing him to howl in pain. "Holy crap…This Power Armor…It's amazing…" Jack whispered to himself as he panted, staring down at the critically injured Super Mutant.

The Lieutenant glared up at Jack, his metal armor dented horribly and his face even more disfigured than before. "It doesn't matter what you do to me, human. You will never be able to defeat The Master. The Unity will reign supreme over this Wasteland! You-"

Jack emptied the rest of the Desert Eagle's magazine into The Lieutenant's face, ridding the world of the beast. Jack waited a moment, and then let out a sigh. He was hoping The Master was here, that he could end this all in one trip. It looked like he had one more trip after this. "Wait, the human!" Jack totally forgot about Van Hagan during the fight! He looked around and saw the man dead in the corner, blood pooling around his corpse. It seemed that loose shrapnel from the grenade killed him. Jack wanted to assume that. The only other way that he could have died was one of Jack's missed bullets hit and killed him. He really didn't want that.

Jack made his way back to the hallway and towards the force field, disabling it quickly and heading into a door to the right. He entered a room filled with several terminals, and with a number of men in robes, just like Van Hagan's. They froze when they saw Jack. The nearest one pointed somewhat dramatically at the Power Armor clad man and yelled. "Intruder! He must have killed the Right Hand of God! Come brothers, we must join the Holy Flame!"

Before Jack could do or say anything, each robed man took out a 9mm pistol and, without hesitation, killed themselves. Before Jack could blink there were half a dozen corpses in the room. "Dear God…These poor people…" He muttered. He ventured into the room, noticing a large window at the far end and approached. "Oh…God…" He said to himself. On the other side of the window was a large room with a number of giant metal vats, each filled with an eerie glowing green liquid. These must be the vats of FEV The Lieutenant spoke of. This must be the control room, and where the self-destruct sequence would be if the base had one.

Jack looked through the largest terminal in the room. There wasn't much on there except for a single holodisk in the machine. It may serve useful later, so Jack stashed it into his bag after taking it from the terminal. Now that he stopped to think…Jack prepped himself and stripped the nearest man of his robe, stuffing that in his bag as well. The Cathedral would probably be far more guarded than this base, and probably with some of The Master's strongest Super Mutants. A stealth approach may be necessary…

After that, Jack turned back to the terminal and looked through and…there! A number of commands he could enter to initiate a self-destruct sequence! The best option was a five-minute countdown sequence that didn't trigger any alarms. Knowing this had to be done, Jack entered the proper sequence and sprinted out of the room. Jack made his way up to the first floor of the base as fast as he could, managing not to run into any Super Mutants. As he approached the entryway, he heard yelling from outside. "Initiate! There you are!" Jack sprinted out into the sunlight, it had only taken him two minutes to get out of the base. "What happened, was the mission successful?!"

Jack quickly observed the situation. All three Brotherhood members were alive, though each one had damage done to their Power Armor. Dogmeat seemed a bit exhausted, but fine. On the ground was no less than twenty dead Super Mutants, and Van Hagan among them. It seemed reinforcements had arrived in great force, and the Paladins killed Van Hagan as he tried to escape. "No time to explain sir! We have three minutes before this place blows up!"

Talus wasted no time, and started to run from the base. "You heard the man! Everyone move your asses _now_!" The four men ran as fast as their legs could carry them, with Dogmeat in tow. After three minutes, a ground shaking explosion erupted from behind them, the sound almost deafening. Jack had done it; the base was destroyed. "Would you look at that! You did it, Initiate!" Talus said, panting a bit. "I knew you had it in you!" He paused. "Wait…The two Outsiders…"

Jack froze. He didn't even think of getting their bodies out of there. Then again, what would he do with them? Just bury them in a random plot of land? Now that he thought about it…Jack didn't even know where they came from. He never bothered to ask. Still, he felt guilty about leaving their bodies to be blown to bits in that terrible place. Jack realized Talus was waiting for an answer and solemnly shook his head. "They…Didn't make it." Dogmeat let out a whine and licked at Jack's metal-covered hand.

Talus shook his head. "Look, it was clear you cared about them, and they seemed fine for Outsiders. What you have to understand is that this is life in the Wasteland. Your companions will die. I've lost a number of close friends in the past, Initiate. You need to learn to accept these things and move on, as hard as that may be."

Jack didn't want to just brush off the deaths of his friends, yet he also knew Talus was right. He couldn't let these thoughts linger, at least not until The Master was killed. Wait, The Master! "Talus, sir, I need to get to the Boneyard! Do you know exactly where it is?"

"The Boneyard? Yes, I know where it is. Why do you need to know?" Talus said, as Mathia and Darrel glanced at each other silently.

"Sir, please, it's not something I can speak about, but it is very important!" Now that Jack thought of it, Talus didn't know that The Master wasn't in the factory. Jack felt that he alone needed to defeat The Master. If he couldn't, he at least needed to do recon at The Cathedral to see what The Master had at his disposal.

Talus sighed. "You need to get your report in as soon as possible. I'll tell you only if this concerns the Super Mutants, Initiate."

"Well…I think it may." Jack lied through his teeth. "But I'm not one hundred percent sure yet. I need to do some recon."

Talus nodded. "You have shown to be knowledgeable, and able to take care of yourself, I suppose." He thought for a moment. "Fine, fine. But make the trip short, and come back as soon as possible to give your full report, understand?"

"Of course, sir!" Jack replied as he climbed out of the Power Armor, allowing Talus to mark the Boneyard on the map of his Pip-Boy 2000. With that, Jack climbed back into the Power Armor and headed towards the Boneyard, a bit southwest of The Hub with Dogmeat while Talus and his Paladins returned to the Brotherhood.

The trip was quiet, and in the worst way. Jack simply had no one to speak to except for Dogmeat, who seemed affected by his master's mood and seemed solemn. After over a week of travel, the two arrived in a somewhat run-down town, with guards waiting at the gate. Jack felt he needed to talk to people here before going to The Cathedral, surely those closer to the location would have some insight about it? The guards were two tough looking men in metal armor. One waved a shotgun at Jack and bellowed. "You! Metal Man, what do you want?!"

Jack was a bit taken back at the hostility, though he knew with his Power Armor he had nothing to fear. "I was hoping to find out about The Cathedral to the south of here. Is there anyone here to talk to about that?"

The two guards glanced at each other, and the one with the shotgun shrugged. "Well, the Children or whatever they call themselves have a base here. But they're pretty…loony to say the least. If anyone, I'd talk to the Followers of the Apocalypse." Clearly he was expecting Jack to reply a certain way because he held up his hand. "Before you say anything; the group may sound like raiders or something, but they're really not. They like to gather knowledge, and are very charitable. You can find them in the library nearby." He pointed to a large, decrepit building. "You can also buy stuff from the Gun Runners if you need it, they have some good weapons."

Jack nodded his head. "Well, thanks." Jack wasn't expecting things to be THAT easy. He and Dogmeat made their way into the library, he didn't need any more guns. Inside, there were a number of people reading books, most of them wearing black leather jackets. Jack tapped the shoulder of the nearest person, a scrawny man reading a large tome. "Excuse me, I was told to come here if I wanted to learn about the Children of the Cathedral. Who should I talk to about that?"

The man jumped a bit at the tap, then jumped again when he turned to see Jack in his imposing Power Armor. "Ah! Oh, uh, well. What I mean is, talk to Nicole, she's our leader. Last I saw, she was in that room there." He pointed a bony finger to a closed door on the other side of the room.

"I see. Thank you!" Jack said, entering the designated room. Inside, there was a woman reading a book at a desk. She too was wearing a leather jacket, as well as having oddly green hear in a Mohawk style. "Nicole? I was told to come talk to you."

Nicole looked up from her book. Unlike the scrawny guy, she didn't seem surprised by Jack's appearance. Had she seen Power Armor before? "Greetings. Yes, I am Nicole. I hope you have found our humble abode to your satisfaction." Despite her appearance, she was quite soft-spoken. "What is it you wished to talk to me about?"

Jack actually couldn't help but be a bit curious about these Followers. "Just who are the Followers of the Apocalypse, exactly? I only just heard of your group."

Nicole smiled, seeming somehow pleased with the question. "We are a group that wants to bring peace back to this Wasteland. It is a violent world out there, and we wish to make a difference." She paused, frowning a bit. "Sadly, we have not been too successful. We fight with knowledge and peace, hence our constant reading of books in our downtime. We never give up hope. We never will, even though most live by the gun these days. And right now we concerned with the Children of the Cathedral."

A very noble group, it seemed. Jack couldn't help but be happy about that. The Wasteland truly needed more positivity. "I actually came here to learn more about the Children and their Cathedral."

Nicole frowned further, closing her book. "I see. Why, may I ask, do you want to know? You don't wish to join them, do you?" She sounded quite worried about the possibility.

Jack shook his head. "The opposite, really. I want to investigate them." And put a stop to their evil ways but should Jack say that? How much does Nicole know about them? He wouldn't want to worry her or sound crazy talking about an army of mutants.

"Well, I suppose that's fair. They have been causing ruckus lately, especially with their revelation of having Super Mutants on their side." Nicole said grimly. "They claim to be peaceful, yet those who oppose them strongly mysteriously vanish…"

Wait, she knew about the Super Mutants?! The Children were this open about it? "Wait, you know about the Super Mutants? What do you know about their plans?"

Nicole shook her head. "We don't know, though we've been investigating in secret. The Nightkin, these blue Super Mutants, came about recently. Ever since, it seems when people vanish, more Super Mutants appear…"

So, the Followers, or at least Nicole and some spies, knew what these Children were up to! But now these Nightkin creatures? What were they, even more powerful Super Mutants? "I see, I do know about their plan, actually." Jack said, which seemed to surprise Nicole. "They wish to take over this Wasteland, turning everyone into Super Mutants! I know it sounds crazy, but it's true!"

Nicole didn't see anything for a moment, seemingly contemplating. "No…That makes sense. Like I said, as the people here vanish, it seems Super Mutants take their place. And their talk of the Unity certainly makes more sense with that in mind…but how do you know this? And why ask me about the Children if you seem to know so much yourself?"

Jack decided it was best to come clean. What would be the harm? "Well, I'm on my way to the Cathedral to stop their plans, especially because my Vault is in danger, but also to save the Wasteland. I'm going to sneak in and investigate, and was hoping you knew something that could help."

That got Nicole looking hopeful. "My word, that's rather bold. I personally don't know much of the goings-on at the Cathedral, but we have a spy there. Go to the Cathedral and find a woman named Laura. Tell her 'Red Rider'. She will tell you what she's found."

Well, that certainly made things easier! Someone on the inside to help him out. "Thank you for the information, Nicole. I should hurry and get there as soon as possible." Jack said.

As Jack was going to leave, Nicole spoke up. "You know it's funny, you're the second person to come here who wanted to save their Vault. What are the chances?" She mused.

Jack stopped in his tracks and turned back to the Follower's leader. "Is that so? What Vault were they from?" Perhaps it was someone from Necropolis?

Nicole shrugged. "Don't remember which Vault it was specifically, somewhere up North. We actually rescued the poor guy from the Super Mutants after he got mutated by them. His name is Talius. You should talk to him before you head out, he's downstairs."

What? Surely Jack didn't hear right. Talius? Vault 13's Talius? The one that vanished into thin air? No, it had to be a coincidence, right? Jack wanted to believe it, but he knew it was no coincidence. Thankfully, his Power Armor's helmet hid his shocked expression. "I…see. I'll do just that. Thank you, Nicole." He said, managing to keep his voice even.

Jack left the room and quickly found a staircase down. He quickly spotted a Ghoul-like mutant sitting at a table and reading. He was somewhat like Harold, but not nearly as pathetic. He still had both his eyes and lips, and he was sitting up straight, unlike the seemingly half-rotted Harold. As Jack approached, he looked up. His face was unrecognizable from the man Jack knew. He didn't know Talius as a close friend, but he knew his face. The mutant seemed surprised at the armored man before him. "Well, greetings, friend. Can I help you with something?"

Jack had to gather his thoughts, figuring out exactly what to say. After a moment, he spoke up. "You…You're Talius, right?" He asked, still able to keep his voice leveled.

The mutant seemed a bit put off by Jack's behavior, yet still nodded. "Yes, my name is Talius. Is there something you need from me…?"

Jack felt his heart skip a bit. It was true, this really had to be Talius. His voice did actually sound like him from what Jack remembered, if a bit scratchy. Instead of answering with words right away, Jack took his helmet off, showing Jack his face. "It's me, Talius. Jack Washington, from Vault 13."

The mutant stared at Jack, his mouth wide open, his eyes full of disbelief. "Jack…? I…I remember you! What are doing out here? Did Jacoren decide to let everyone out?"

Jack could barely believe what was happening. There was zero doubt now, the mutant knew the Overseer's name! "No…No, it's the opposite really. But that's not important! What are _you_ doing out here? Is Ed here too? You two vanished at the same time!"

Talius frowned. "Vanished?" He didn't seem to be expecting that. "What do you mean vanished?"

"You and Ed! One day you both just vanished without a trace!" What was he talking about? How could he forget what happened?

"We…We didn't vanish." Talius said, sounding confused. "We were sent out of the Vault! Didn't Jacoren tell you?" The look on Jack's face said it all. "I see…" Talius sighed. "Well…Ed and I were the first ones Jacoren told about the Water Chip failing. We made it as far as this place called Necropolis until things went too sour. Some of those 'Super Mutant' things knocked me out and Ed ran…Next thing I know, I looked like this. Thankfully, the Followers saved my hide."

More lies. Jack couldn't believe it. First about the true purpose of the Vaults…now this. And that skeleton outside the Vault…That must be Ed! "I'm…sorry that happened. I actually found a Water Chip in Necropolis, so you were close. Now Jacoren wants me to stop the source of these Super Mutants and their leader."

Talius gave a grim nod. "I see…Well, I wish you luck with that. I shall just…remain here, I believe. I do not wish to return to the Vault." Talius then buried his face back in the book, but it was obvious he just wanted to be left alone. Jack complied, and he and Dogmeat left the Boneyard and went directly south. Jack had a lot to talk to Jacoren about when he got back to the Vault.

On the first night of the short trip, Jack realized something. "Wait, that holo-disc I found at the base!" He had totally forgotten about it! He was so wrapped up about Tycho and Ian, he had forgotten! Jack was out of his Power Armor, as he always was when he went down to sleep. Sleeping in that metal monstrosity was too uncomfortable! Dogmeat tilted his head curiously as Jack put the ancient-looking holo-disc into his Pip-Boy 2000. It was an audio log, in a number of short, seemingly spontaneous entries…

" _I'm dying. I need to get this down before the pain overwhelms me._ " The Pip-Boy blurted out. It was man's voice, one that sounded exhausted…

" _I can't believe that I was finally able to drag myself out of that vat. The slime did not affect me, but I nearly drowned. I don't know what happened to Harold - he was standing right next to me when the crane knocked me into the vat. He must have been killed or he would have tried to help me. Francine is dead, killed by one of those robots._ " Vats? Harold? No…It couldn't be…

" _I have no idea how much time has passed. I was able to hack the computer to turn off the robots and record this, but now my mind is slipping away. There is much pain..._

 _The green slime that I was immersed in is the source of all the mutations we traced to here. My skin is starting to fester and peel. In other areas it is bubbling and is expelling a green mucus-like substance. Some days the pain is almost tolerable._

 _I can actually walk a few steps again...It seems inconceivable that I dragged myself all the way up here from the vat room. Strangely, I'm actually feeling stronger, though I'm still in a lot of pain. Everything seems to be getting smaller._ " This had to be…Richard Grey. The man Harold said he traveled with!

" _I think I consumed one of the mutated things scurrying around here today. Before I knew what was happening, some sort of tendril had sprang from my stomach and covered the poor creature. As soon as it had sucked the rodent into my gut I could actually feel its mind. I think. There is the very real possibility that I'm going slowly insane and can no longer differentiate between what is real and what is a hallucination. Maybe I'm still slowly dying in the vat and I've imagined all this._

 _Things are becoming more clear to me every day. This toxin has actually improved my mind. I feel that I can understand even the most complex philosophical questions simply and directly. It's as if all the layers of artifice have been stripped away. I wonder what would happen if I submerged an animal in the vats for a prolonged period of time? Would it gain awareness?_

 _The strangest thing is happening to the animals. They actually become smarter and more aware of their surroundings. I dipped a dog and a rat at the same time today, and they were fused together. It's not quite two creatures anymore, but it's more than one. Perhaps this is the future…a coming together of different creatures in some sort of harmonious unity. I no longer consume the different animals I create simply for sustenance - I have become the instrument through which unity will be achieved. I am so much more than a human being now._

 _It is time to bring others into the glory that is the Unity._ " It…couldn't be…

" _A lost soul has finally strayed into my home. I was so surprised I consumed him before dipping, a mistake I shall not make again. His mind was so primitive as to be repulsive to my refined cognitive abilities._

 _I've begun to modify myself to be more pleasing to the Unity by injecting small doses of the virus into my body. The slime in the vats is a man-made virus called the Forced Evolutionary Virus. This information was acquired from my newly grown neurolink with the base computer._

 _The few wanderers that have found their way here have been a disappointment to me. They can't seem to mutate correctly. The best I've been able to create are some big and dumb mutants. Most can recall nothing from before I initiated them into the wondrous Unity. I only feed on them for fuel, now. Their minds are nothing to me._

 _Oh glorious creator! I have succeeded in spreading the complete joy of unification to another soul! Unlike the others, his total radiation count was low. I believe this is the factor we have been overlooking all this time, as it seems the conversion is more successful in the cases with less radiation damage. I have never known such glory as I felt when taking his mind into our own._

 _We are beginning to create an army dedicated to unifying the wonderful diversity of life. We have trained them to continue our work here while we search out more populated areas to take into ourselves. We are beginning to feel the limitations of a body that is mobile. We must find a permanent home, with a greater store of knowledge, and a steady supply of bio-mass._

 _We have stopped increasing ourself until we can find this new unification center. When we have arrived we will continue to grow and feed until we have brought peace and unity to the entire world._ "

And that was the last entry. The voice went from a normal, dying man to something monotone and…sinister…But that wasn't the most important part. This was an audio-diary of The Master himself…Who used to be Richard Grey. Jack didn't know what to think! The Master was just a man…now an insane…creature. All this talk about tendrils and becoming a 'we' near the end there…What was The Master? Clearly not an ordinary Super Mutant. He was something far worse. And he was clearly too insane to see the errors of his ways. In a way, Jack actually pitied him. And the thought of fusing creatures together like that…

Jack barely slept that night.

The next day, Jack came upon The Cathedral. Rather, a sizable boulder near the giant structure. It was what appeared to be a Pre-War church, and a massive one at that! It was time for Jack to get into his disguise. He exited his Power Armor and removed that metal armor he got back at The Hub so long ago, now only in his Vault Suit. He then put those robes he got from the base on. They were a bit tight, but still fit enough to work.

Unfortunately, Jack had to leave most of his equipment behind. His Power Armor, all of his weapons but his Desert Eagle (with some magazines) and a knife that he never got much use of. He managed to hide those in his pocket, along with a few Stimpaks and that tape that Vree gave him. Perhaps it could be useful…? Everything else, including his Pip-Boy 2000, Jack had to leave behind. That…and Dogmeat. "Alright, boy…" Jack said to the animal companion. "You need to sit here and guard this area, okay?" It seemed Dogmeat understood, as he sat in place and stayed there as Jack went towards The Cathedral.

In front of the building, there were a number of people in front of The Cathedral in robes like Jack's. All of them were mumbling about the Unity and the Holy Flame. They were practically brainwashed…though luckily none of them noticed Jack at all! He confidently entered the building, where an older man was there to greet him. "Welcome back, brother. I hope all is well!" The inside of The Cathedral was cold and dark, with a number of large, thick wooden doors leading to various rooms. There was a main room up ahead with a number of Children sitting in pews and transfixed on a screen with another robed man speaking.

Quickly playing along, Jack bowed slightly. "Greetings, brother. I am glad to say all _is_ well. However, I must speak to Sister Laura, it is quite urgent. Do you know where she is?"

The man smiled and gestured to a nearby room to the left. "Yes, my brother, she resides in there. I do hope you get what you need from her."

Jack bowed a bit again. "Many thanks, brother." With that, Jack made his way into the room. Inside was a single robed girl, probably the same age as Jack. Her face looked serene, and had long and somewhat messy blonde hair. "Are you Laura?" Jack asked as he approached her.

The girl smiled. "Yes, I am Laura. How may I help you, brother?" She sounded somewhat meek and shy, though kind.

Jack glanced around, making sure there was no one else in the room. "Nicole sent me." He said in a soft voice. "She told me to say 'Red Rider' to you."

Laura's eyes widened. "She sent you? Who are you?" Laura asked, her voice now sharp and with a bit of an edge. "I don't recognize you."

"My name is Jack, and I'm a friend. I'm here to help put a stop to what's going on here. Nicole said you were the spy here, have you learned anything." Jack said, keeping his voice low.

Laura nodded. "I see. You wouldn't know what to say unless she trusted you, so I shall trust you as well. What do you need to know, exactly?"

Jack pretty much knew everything he felt he had to. Except for one important thing. "The Master. Do you know where he is? Have you ever seen him?" With the way he sounded in Richard Grey's tapes…he almost hoped she hadn't, for her sake.

Laura shook her head. "No. But I think I know where he is. You'll need to get a sort of key, though." She took an object from her robe, a small metal and red badge in the shape of a typical radiation symbol. "Everyone has red keys like this, but some people like Morpheus have a black one. I've seen him use it to enter a secret area. Though I'm not one-hundred percent positive that's where The Master is, I'd say it's your best bet. Here, follow me…"

Laura led Jack out of the room and into the large room with the pews. The two went into a room off to the right and closed the door behind them. Laura had to insert her badge into the door before it would open, Jack noticed. Inside the room was a staircase and another door with that badge symbol imbedded into it. Once again, they were alone. "I'm guessing that's the door you're talking about?" Jack asked.

Laura nodded. "Yes, that's the door I once saw Morpheus enter with his black badge. Without it, you won't be able to get inside. Morpheus is in a room at the top of the stairs. Here, take this. Without it, the Nightkin will kill you." Laura gave her symbol to Jack. "He most likely has the black badge on him at all times, so you will need to kill him."

Jack nodded, disturbed by how little of a deal this seemed. Just killing another person, as if it's normal. "Right. But you need to get out of here, and back to the Boneyard." Jack opened the door back up and whispered. "Things are probably gonna get dangerous here soon."

Laura eyed Jack suspiciously, thinking things through. It seemed she believed him though, and nodded. "I suppose I should. I think I need to get back to Nicole anyway. Good luck, Jack." With that, Laura left and Jack closed the door behind her and climbed up the stairs.

When he reached the next level, Jack was greeted with a voice. "Halt! Show identification!" It was deep and simple-sounding, yet no one seemed to be there!

"What?! Hello? Who's there?!" Jack called out. In front of him, a figure appeared as if out of nowhere. A large Super Mutant carrying a minigun; except this one had blue skin! Must be one of those Nightkin Nicole and Laura mentioned. "Oh! So sorry!" How did he appear out of thin air like that? Jack showed the Nightkin his badge. "I am simply going to speak to Morpheus about something urgent!"

The Nightkin glanced at the badge and nodded towards another staircase leading further up. "Proceed." And with that, it took a device out of its belt and pressed a button, turning invisible again.

After reaching the top level, Jack noted two doors. One had something in front of it…a flicker of some kind. Looking closer, it was in the shape of a Super Mutant! Sort of like seeing a visible gas leak. The Nightkin spoke. "Hungry…So hungry…Need food…" It grumbled. It turned visible, looking towards Jack. "Food?"

Jack backed away a step, holding up his badge. "No, no! Not food! I have clearance to be up here!" The Nightkin grumbled some more. "Why not go downstairs and look for some food, okay?" The Nightkin nodded dumbly and descended the stairs and out of sight.

With that, Jack entered the room the Nightkin was guarding. Inside was another robed man. He was scrawny, almost skeletal in appearance. On top of that, he had a short mustache and piercing, cruel green eyes. The man glared at Jack as he closed the door. "And what is it you want, my child?" The man's voice sounded cruel, as if belonging to someone who liked to kick dogs for fun.

"You are Morpheus, correct?" Jack asked as he approached. "I was sent up here to talk to you."

Morpheus sneered. "Well fine, spit it out, what is it?!" He barked out. "I am in the middle of-"

He was cut off when Jack grabbed his throat hard with one hand. Morpheus struggled and try to tear Jack's hand away, but he was too weak to do anything. "I'm…I'm sorry." Hardly being able to watch himself do it, Jack took out his knife and stabbed Morpheus in the chest over and over until he stopped moving. Jack dropped the body on the floor and just took in what he just did. It was one thing to shoot someone…but to stab them to death…it was terrible. Jack never thought he'd ever have to do anything like this in his life before today.

With a weary sigh, Jack looked through the dead man's robes and found a black badge in the same shape as the red one. Jack pocketed it and exited the room, making sure to close the door behind him. He made his way back downstairs, and entered the room Laura instructed using the new badge. It was rather empty; a hatch door and a bookcase. Jack also noticed an invisible Nightkin, but the mutant seemed to ignore Jack. The hatch door must be the way to go, Jack thought, and opened it up. There was a ladder beneath that Jack began to climb down, leading into a dreary basement with torches attached to the walls. There were broken chairs, boxes of junk, and a few tables and bookshelves, but no one around.

Jack went through the basement, and saw a hole in the wall that led into a cave, which was also lit by torches on the walls. As he walked through, he couldn't help but be reminded of the cave leading to Vault 13. As Jack's mind wandered, a creature appeared before him! It was a bizarre worm-like creature, except it kind of "stood" on its tail leaving a large head, dripping with tendrils up in the air. It was about to lunge at Jack when it was yanked back. As it turned out, it had a collar on, held by a Super Mutant. "No! Bad! No eating humans!" It scolded. It then turned to Jack. "Identification?"

Jack shakily held up the black badge. "H-Here." He was, understandably, a bit shaken. What kind of other monstrosities could be down here? Either way, the badge satisfied the Super Mutant, which dragged the creature away. Jack sighed and went further into the cave. One turn he made stopped him in his tracks.

There was a Vault.

The cave floor lead into a metal one, and there was an open Vault door. The door had no number on it, oddly enough. But it was what was in front of the hallway that truly terrified Jack. A Nightkin and another mutant creature…but this one was entirely _wrong_.

It was a mixture between a man, a dog…and who knew what else! It had six legs, with what appeared to be tentacles writhing from its belly, making the most revolting squelching noises that Jack had ever heard. It had two heads, one long dog head…and one that seemed like the torso and head of a bald man. The dog-head let out a terrifying growl; one that sounded like a number of dogs growling at the same time. The man-head said no words, instead gurgling out a noise that Jack couldn't even begin to describe. Except for one word, that is. Agonized. Jack hurried past and into the Vault. When he was sure he was alone and out of earshot, he puked into a corner, shaking all over. What kind of Hell was this?!

Jack felt like he was losing his mind, from all these horrors the Wasteland was presenting to him! Perhaps…it would've been better if no living creature survived the Great War. Once again, Jack felt a deep hatred for The Master. His mind kept swinging back and forth about how he felt about The Master. Hatred, then pity, then hatred again. Jack couldn't stop here though, he had to keep going! Jack entered the nearby elevator, and pressed the button for the third and lowest level the elevator went to. The Master was probably on the lowest level.

After Jack exited the elevator, he gasped at what he saw. The hallway before him…so much flesh. The hall was covered in blobs and puddles of flesh. Piles of what seemed to be pure fat were scattered apart, and fleshy growths hung on the walls, as if the metal of the Vault itself was growing tumors. Was this The Master's doing? Well…what else could it be?

Robed people and Super Mutants milled about, seemingly used to the conditions of the Vault. Jack stopped a passing woman. "Sister, excuse me, this is my first time down here. Where is The Master?" He asked.

The woman gave a knowing smile. "Please, follow me." She led Jack deeper into the Vault and into another room. The room had a number of Children typing at terminals…which also were covered in flesh. She pointed to an opening in the wall. "In there is where the Holy Master resides."

With that, she wandered away. Jack approached the room. The metal of the wall itself was flesh-colored, and the tumor-like growths were more numerous. Unknown, fleshy tendrils also hung from the ceiling. Well…there was no turning back now…Jack walked into the long, dark hallway. He wasn't even halfway through when he felt something assault him! Not his body…but his mind! It felt as if something inside his skull was punching its way out. Then he heard a chorus of voices deep in his subconscious. " _We can see you, Jack. We wish to speak with you…_ "

Every cell in Jack's body was screaming at him to run away. Run away and never go anywhere near this cursed place again. But Jack couldn't turn away. He was just a minute away from meeting The Master. He could put an end to everything right here! Ignoring the angry buzzing in his head, Jack kept walking towards the end of the hall. He soon emerged in a large room absolutely covered in tumors and tentacles. There were terminals and an Overseer's chair. But it what was sitting on the chair that made Jack feel ill again. Or rather, what was attached to the chair. "Oh my God…"

The creature before Jack was the most hideous he had ever seen. It was a mess of flesh and chaotic body parts. A computer screen sat in a pool-like mass of flesh with tubes and tentacles leading to the walls and terminals. Around the screen was a creature with only vaguely human-like qualities. It had what seemed to be a human male's head, but it was like it was sculpted out of clay and then left out in the sun to melt. Metal tubes came in and out of its "head" and into the screen. Where an arm may be was just a tentacle with an unneeded eye at the end, staring deeply into Jack. The creature opened its mouth and spoke. "You are brave to come before me. _Before me._ That or a **fool.** I KNOW WHO YOU ARE, JACK. I have read it in your thoughts."

Jack gaped at the creature. At first, it spoke like a normal man, disturbingly enough. Then it spoke…like a woman. Then for a brief moment, another man's voice, an angry voice. Finally, the last voice change was that of a computerized tone. Was this creature a fusion of humans and a machine? "You…You're The Master…" Was all Jack managed to utter. He had never imagined the monster would be this horrific. It was the single most disgusting entity Jack had ever laid eyes on, and would ever lay eyes on for the rest of his days. It could even read his thoughts; it must have been what he heard out in the hall. It had strange abilities of the mind…

The creature made a sighing sound. "Yes. I am **The Master.** I thought that was clear. _Clear._ CLEAR."

Jack shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "You're Richard Grey, aren't you? At least…you used to be!"

The Master actually seemed surprised. "That name no longer holds MEANING to me. **To me!** _To me._ But I am not here to answer your questions. YOU ARE HERE TO ANSWER MINE."

Jack was tempted to draw his Desert Eagle and open fire, but…could bullets even harm this thing? And it was true, this thing used to be Richard Grey. "You want to know where my Vault is, is that right?" Jack asked, feeling more confident in knowing this would one-up the creature.

Again, The Master seemed surprised. Its eye-tipped tentacle reached towards Jack, looking him up and down. " **How astute.** However did you _know?_ " The creature then shook its…head. "Not important. _Important._ You will join the Unity or die. **Die!** DIE."

Once more, Jack thought on his feet, holding up his hands in mock defense. "I will join your Unity, if you can convince me." This would give him time to think of what to do. He needed a plan!

" **I don't have to prove anything to you!** _Prove._ " The Master bellowed, the sound of writhing limbs and tentacles echoed throughout the room.

Was The Master preparing an attack?! Jack looked around, but saw nothing changing, though there was so many piles of flesh and limbs, it was hard to tell what would have changed. "If I am to join, I must be able to understand what I'm getting into!"

The Master made a low, droning noise. Jack realized it was humming in thought. "Very demanding for one in your tenuous position. DEMANDING. _But I can respect your needs._ "

Jack sighed in relief. "Tell me about your goals, your big plan for this Wasteland." Jack just needed to buy time to think.

"The Unity will bring about the master race. _Master!_ **Master!** One able to survive, or even thrive, in the Wasteland. As long as there are differences, we will tear ourselves apart fighting each _other._ We need one race. _Race!_ RACE! One goal. **Goal!** _Goal!_ One people to move forward to our destiny. _Destiny._ " The Master answered. It seemed like it had answered this question countless times before.

Jack felt that twinge of pity before. The Master seemed to truly think it was doing the right thing here. "And this race would be the Super Mutants, correct?"

"OF COURSE. Mutants are best equipped to deal with the world today. Who else? The Ghouls? **Please!** _Normals?_ They brought nuclear death to us all. This will be the age of mutants. MUTANTS." The Master seemed rather prideful of its…race. Rather confident!

Jack knew all this already. Perhaps something more could be found out. What if Jack could change its mind? "What about those who don't want to become Super Mutants? Do you just kill them?"

The Master shook its head again. "NO. No. The remainder will be allowed to live out their days, but under _Unity_ control and **protection.** But none shall breed, for they will be the last of their RACE."

Protection? That sounded…nice. Perhaps The Master wasn't so wrong after all. Perhaps Jack should…NO! Jack shook his head. This thing was creeping into his head! Trying to meddle his thoughts! The Master seemed to notice Jack's resistance, as it shifted noticeably in its chair. "Your Super Mutants will die out too, I made sure of it!"

The eye-tentacle swerved to look at The Master, then back at Jack. "EXPLAIN."

Jack glared up at The Master, for whatever good that would do. "I destroyed your base, your factory. Your Lieutenant is dead, and the vats of FEV are destroyed!"

The Master gaped its maw at Jack. "No. **No!** You lie! _Lie._ " The Master blurted out, but then composed itself. "I will simply contact my Lieutenant then! _Lieutenant._ " There was a pause, some of the terminals beeped and clanged, then The Master let out an inhuman roar. "I cannot contact him! **You destroyed my factory!** "

Jack took a step back. Perhaps making this eldritch abomination mad wasn't a good move. No turning back now, however. "Yes, I did. If humans can destroy your factory, then your army is not as powerful as you believe it is. Your creatures are sterile, and will be hunted down and wiped out!"

The Master gurgled at Jack. "STERILE? I will need proof of this. _Proof._ "

Proof…? Wait, proof! Jack had brought Vree's findings with him! He took it out. "I have the proof right here on this holo-disc."

The Master made a "hmph" sound. "Fine. **Fine!** Put it in here…" A nearby terminal opened up a port with a distinct squelching sound. As much as it disgusted Jack, he placed the evidence in. The Master hummed again for a full minute before speaking again. "I understand now. You made a clever forgery. You made this up to fool me. **Fool!** ME!"

Jack took a defiant step forward. "No! You just refuse to believe the truth! It's all there, in black and white. You're in denial, monster!"

The Master ignored the insult, remaining quiet. "But it cannot be. This would mean that all my work has been for nothing. Everything that I have tried to…a failure! It can't be. BE. _Be_. **Be!** "

The Master sounded so…broken that Jack couldn't help but feel sorry for the creature. "I'm sorry…but your race is doomed." And he actually…meant it. He did feel pity for The Master, despite himself.

The Master's tentacle dropped down, closing its eye. "I…don't think that I can continue. CONTINUE. To have done the things I have done in the name of progress and healing. It was madness. I can see that now. Madness. **Madness!** There is no hope. Leave now, leave while you still have _hope_ …" With that, there was beeping of terminals, and The Master went silent, closing the eyes of its head.

Leave now? Those beepings…No…Did The Master have a bomb!? Jack wasted no time in asking and sprinted away, leaving the broken-hearted monstrosity behind him. Perhaps someone running away from The Master's chambers wasn't uncommon, or maybe no one really cared. Either way, no one stopped Jack as he ran through the Vault and back up into The Cathedral.

Jack sprinted out of The Cathedral and back to Dogmeat and his Power Armor. His canine companion was loyally waiting for him, and perked up as Jack grew near. Jack quickly gathered his bag with his food and water as well as his Pip-Boy 2000. He had no time for the Power Armor! "Dogmeat! Let's go! Move!" Jack yelled as he ran away again, his dog running alongside him.

As the two made a good distance from The Cathedral, an ear-ringing rumble could be heard. The windows shattered at the same time, every last one. Then the sound of a million thunderclaps rang out as The Cathedral was engulfed in a nuclear explosion. The Master had committed suicide, taking his followers and his base with him. Jack and Dogmeat were thrown to the ground from the shockwave, but they survived. The Master was now gone…Jack could go home…

 _The death of The Master was the final major step towards ending his mad dream of conquest and enforced peace, and the destruction of the vats neutralized the mutant threat. Without the ability to create more mutants and enforce their harsh brand of justice, the mutant armies fled to the east, beyond the no-man's land._

 _The ghouls of Necropolis learned how to maintain the repaired water pump, and eventually rediscovered many lost secrets of engineering. They formed a business selling this technology to other towns. Unfortunately, not long after, a band of The Master's Remnants razed the town to the ground; blaming the Ghouls for the death of Harry and his group. The remaining Ghouls scattered across the Wasteland._

 _The Followers of the Apocalypse rose to become a major influence in New California. With Jack's influence in the destruction of the Children, the Followers gained control of the LA Boneyard._

 _In Shady Sands, Tandi helped her father Aradesh bring a new community and new life out of the broken remains of the world. They were responsible for the New California Republic, whose ideals would spread across the land._

 _Killian Darkwater took firm control of Junktown, driving out the last of Gizmo's kind, and then enforced his own brand of frontier justice. Life was fair and safe under his law._

 _The Brotherhood of Steel helped the other human outposts drive the mutant armies away with minimal loss of life, on both sides of the conflict. The advanced technology of the Brotherhood was slowly reintroduced into New California, with little disruption or chaos. The Brotherhood wisely remained out of the power structure, and became a major research and development house._

 _Inspired by Jack's actions and words, Harold brought the Ghoul population of The Hub into equality with the humans. The two sides worked together, and The Hub prospered. Harold would eventually leave The Hub, going to parts unknown._

 _Thanks to Jack's actions, the Khans were destroyed as an effective fighting force, and disbanded._

 _All that left was Jack himself. What became of him…?_

Jack arrived back to the cave leading to his Vault. Vault 13. His home. He had ditched the Unity robes days ago, and re-applied his Pip-Boy 2000 to his arm. He was read to rest for a long, long time. To his surprise, Jacoren was waiting for him in front of the close Vault door. He opened his arms in greeting of Jack. "Jack, my boy! You did it! Our readings indicated two major outposts went up in explosive glory! I know it was you!"

Jack couldn't help but smile. He did it…he really did it. "I…Yes. The Master wasn't in the factory…I had to track him down, but he's gone now…"

Jacoren smiled. "You should be proud! There's no way the people of the Vault can ever thank you enough for what you've done. You've saved all our lives. Who knows, maybe even saved the human race." He sounded like a parent praising his child, almost.

Jack's smile slowly turned to a frown. Jack had to confront Jacoren, now that the two of them were alone. "We…need to talk, sir." Jack said. Dogmeat looked between the two humans, panting lightly.

Jacoren seemed shocked at that. "Whatever about, Jack? Are you alright?"

Jack shook his head. "No! I'm not alright! You lied to me, Jacoren!" Jacoren gasped a bit at that. Jack had never called him by his first name like that! "I found Talius, I know what you did with him and Ed!" Jack glanced over, noticing Ed's skeleton was gone. "How could you lie to everyone?!"

Jacoren let out a sigh. "I…I'm sorry, Jack. I really am. It was a hard decision, it really was! I didn't want people to panic…so I sent Talius and Ed to Vault 15 the day the Water Chip broke. I didn't think they'd never come back! I just…thought they died on the way, and so I sent you."

Jack…he supposed that made sense. But he still felt betrayed. "And you never told us about Vault-Tec and their plots, these weird experiments the Vaults were…are a part of!"

Jacoren's jaw almost hit the cave floor. "What?! H-How…I…How do you know about that?!" He demanded, sounding a mix between stern and horrified. It seemed he was too shocked to even deny it.

Jack shook his head. "That's not important. All I know is I found out. Tell me about it, sir. Please!"

Jacoren scratched his beard in thought and shook his head. "I…I can't. I swore I wouldn't, Jack. But…I know it's hard for you to trust me, but you must believe I'd never harm anyone in this Vault! Never! It's best you learn nothing more about this…"

Jack couldn't believe he wouldn't say anything. After all he owed Jack, and he couldn't even tell the truth. "…Fine. Let's just go inside, then. I need to rest. Dogmeat is moving in too, right boy?" He asked his dog, who barked in delight.

Jacoren didn't move. "Jack…I can't let that happen. You're a hero, Jack. Everyone will want to talk to you. Every youngster will look up to you, and want to emulate you. And then what?" He paused, waiting for an answer that never came. Jack just stared at him, star struck. "They'll want to leave. What happens to the Vault if we lose the best of a generation? What if we are the only safe place in the world? You just gave us back all these lives…I can't take the chance of losing them."

Jack shook his head. "Jacoren…Please, no…" He begged. Jacoren wouldn't dare…would he?

"I've made a lot of tough decisions since I took this position. But none of them harder than this one. You saved us, but you'll kill us. I'm sorry. You're a hero…and you have to leave." Jacoren's eyes shone, tearing up lightly.

Jack didn't even think. Next thing he knew, his Desert Eagle was out and pointed at Jacoren. "How…How could you betray me like this!?" Jack found himself tearing up as well. "You do this to me after I saved everyone!" He bellowed at the shaking Overseer.

"Jack…Jack, please…" Jacoren said softly. "I don't want to do this, but I must. I'm thinking about the safety of my people! Please understand…The Wasteland has clearly changed you. Do you really want these people to change that way too?"

Jack paused, then lowered his gun. Jacoren was right. Jack had changed radically since he first left Vault 13. He was far more ruthless, more careless with human life than he ever thought possible. He hated this change…he wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy. Jack put his gun away. "…You're right. Goodbye, Jacoren." Jack turned away and walked towards the cave exit, a whimpering Dogmeat following him.

 _Jack marched into the desert sands, leaving Vault 13 behind him for the third and final time._

* * *

 **Author's Note: And that's a wrap. It was really fun writing this story, and I hope you all enjoyed reading it.**

 **Of course, I had to change some things around. For instance, The Master was defeated before the vats were destroyed in canon, but I felt that was less dramatic.**

 **I'll be continuing the series with Fallout 2, with the well-received Restoration Project included, so a lot more content will be there for me to write about.**

 **Reviews are more than welcome, especially any criticisms you may have.**


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